11

In English we call a word originally from a foreign language a "borrowing" or "loanword". What is/are the French term(s) for words that came into French from another language?

Also, is there a word specific for words which came into French from English, such as "Anglicism"?

Improve this question
3
  • 2
    Wikipedia is usually a good way of translating technical terms. Borrowing (en) → Loanword (en) → emprunt lexical (fr).
    – Gilles 'SO nous est hostile'
    Commented Aug 25, 2011 at 23:18
  • anglicisme!!! (just kidding) Maybe "mot d'emprunt"?
    – Dave
    Commented Aug 26, 2011 at 0:34
  • The question title has been dumbed down and is no longer what I asked. I primarily wanted to know the French term for borrowing or loanword to use in question tags here. I wanted to know if there was a further more specific word for borrowings from English as a side question.
    – hippietrail
    Commented Aug 26, 2011 at 7:21

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
13

One would say emprunter et emprunt for to borrow and borrowing / loanword. And anglicisme is the carbon-copy of anglicism.

Improve this answer
4
  • 1
    Am I correct to assume emprunt is the noun for either and emprunter is the verb to borrow?
    – hippietrail
    Commented Aug 25, 2011 at 22:09
  • @hippietrail You are, I'll edit my answer to make it more obvious.
    – Evpok
    Commented Aug 25, 2011 at 22:12
  • 2
    And that's what the TLF says too, see for example the entry for sandwich: cnrtl.fr/etymologie/sandwich where it says "Empr. à l'angl. sandwich" ("Emprunté à l'anglais sandwich")
    – Joubarc
    Commented Aug 26, 2011 at 7:08
  • Un emprunt, moi aussi je suis tout à fait d'accord @hippietrail.
    – livresque
    Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 5:30

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.