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loanword

Also known as borrowing, loan word

thumb|The English language|English word [[tofu is a loanword from the Japanese word , which is itself a loanword from the Chinese word dòufu.]]

AI overview

A loanword is a word that one language borrows from another language, like how English borrowed "tofu" from Japanese, which itself came from Chinese. Loanwords matter because they show how languages and cultures influence each other, and they often appear in English when we adopt things from other cultures, like their food or ideas.

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Image: Rovas in European languages.jpg

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Commons category: Loanwords
exact match: data.linguistik.de/bll/bll-ontology#bll-133073610

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Article

14 sections

Contents

Examples and related terms
Linguistic classification
In English
Languages other than English
Transmission in the Ottoman Empire
Dutch words in Indonesian
Dutch words in Russian
Romance languages
Cultural aspects
Leaps in meaning
See also
References
Sources
External links

thumb|The English language|English word [[tofu is a loanword from the Japanese word , which is itself a loanword from the Chinese word dòufu.]]

A loanword is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term that is well established in the linguistic field despite its acknowledged descriptive flaws: nothing is taken away from the donor language and there is no expectation of returning anything (i.e., the loanword).