What does loanword mean?
A loanword is a word that has been taken or adopted from another language and used in a new linguistic community. Loanwords may retain much of their original pronunciation and spelling, or they may be adapted to the sounds, patterns, and spelling conventions of the receiving language. English contains loanwords from many languages, including French, Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hindi, and Japanese. Some are so thoroughly established that their foreign origins are no longer obvious, while others are still readily recognized as borrowings. The term is used especially in linguistics, language teaching, and discussions of how languages change. It describes the history of a word rather than its present meaning, and it is often contrasted with words inherited directly from an ancestral language.
nounA word that has been adopted into one language from another language, often while retaining features of its original form or meaning. In English, loanwords include words such as “café,” “robot,” and “window.”
- A word adopted into one language from another language.
"The English word “robot” is a loanword from Czech."
"“Schedule” is a loanword that entered English through Latin and French."
"The scholar explained how the loanword had been adapted to fit English pronunciation."
The plural is used when referring to words adopted from one or more other languages.
"English has absorbed thousands of loanwords throughout its history."
English is full of loanwords: even its seemingly native vocabulary often carries the fingerprints of languages that came before it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does loanword come from?
“Loanother” is a compound formed in English from “loan” and “word.” “Loan” continues Old English lānan, meaning “to lend,” while “word” continues Old English word. Both elements are therefore native English words, but the compound refers to a word whose linguistic source lies in another language.
How loanword is actually used
Loanword is a neutral scholarly term. It is especially common in linguistics, language teaching, and discussions of vocabulary, and is more precise than the potentially informal “borrowed word.”
Easily confused with loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from another language, whereas a loan can also mean money lent or the act of lending something.