KnowraLoanwordLoanwordA loanword is a word adopted from one language into another, often with changes in pronunciation, spelling, or meaning.BriefConnectLanguage contact: Interaction between speakers of different languages that influences their linguistic practices. Regular contact between speech communities creates the conditions for words to cross language boundaries.Lexicon: The set of words and fixed expressions known or used by a language or speaker. Loanwords become part of a language’s lexicon when speakers adopt them as vocabulary.English language: A West Germanic language that developed in England and is now spoken worldwide. English has incorporated vocabulary from many languages across successive periods of contact.Norman Conquest: The Norman invasion and conquest of England in 1066, followed by Norman rule. Norman French gained prestige in England and contributed a large layer of French vocabulary to English.Loanword assimilation: The process by which a borrowed word becomes integrated into a language’s pronunciation, grammar, and usage. Assimilation explains why long-established loanwords may no longer seem foreign to speakers.Phonological adaptation: The adjustment of sounds in a borrowed form to fit another language’s sound system. Borrowed words often acquire pronunciations that native speakers can produce within their language’s patterns.Etymology: The study of the history and origins of words and how their forms and meanings change. Etymology traces a loanword through its source language and route into the receiving language.French loanwords in English: Words adopted into English from French, especially through contact after the Norman Conquest. French-derived vocabulary illustrates extensive borrowing in English after Norman rule began in 1066.Silk Road: A network of trade routes connecting East Asia with Central Asia and regions farther west. Trade along these routes carried goods and the names used for them between languages.Lexical borrowing: The transfer of words from one language into another through language contact. Loanwords are the lexical items produced by the broader process of lexical borrowing.Show all 28Linked from 14 pagesCultural diffusionBroader topic: Loanwords make the movement of cultural ideas visible in everyday speech.Comparative linguisticsRelated: Borrowing must be distinguished from inherited vocabulary in historical comparisons.Early Modern EnglishNarrower topic: Borrowing from Latin, Greek, and other languages greatly enlarged Early Modern English vocabulary.EponymCompared with: A loanword comes from another language; an eponym is defined by its naming source.NeologismRelated: Borrowing can introduce a word that is new to the receiving language.Moroccan ArabicRelated: Darija incorporates words from French, Spanish, Amazigh, and other sources.African FrenchRelated: Borrowed words name local foods, institutions, practices, and objects absent from standard French vocabulary.ManipravalamRelated: Sanskrit-derived vocabulary is one part of the style's blending, not its whole mechanism.Show all 14