English Words Taken From Around the Worlds

Words from other languages that contribute to the richness of English as a language. See if your language is part of English.
English, the universal language, has long been an active borrower and lender. As English words are increasingly taken into other languages, English also takes into words from other languages and makes them its “own.”

Here is a list of words, now considered part of the English language, taken from the different parts of the world. From A – Z:

A – Avatar (AV ə THAR)
This is derived from the Sanskrit word avatara, which literally means a “passing down. In Hindu mythology, it means the “descent of a deity to earth in invisible form.” It also means manifestation; phase, or incarnation.

B – Boondocks (BOON DOKSS)
This was taken from a Tagalog word bundok, which means “mountains.”

In WWII, United States troops in the Philippines misheard the word bundok as boondocks and made it their own to mean “backwoods, a remote rural area; a rough or isolated region.”

C – Chutzpah (KHUUT spə)
This word has its origin from a Yiddish word khutspa, meaning “unmitigated impudence or gall.”

This has been used since the end of the nineteenth century with the same meaning.

D – Dacha (DAH chə)
From Russian dácha which literally means a “grant of land or a small summer house or villa in the country.” It has been part of the English language since the end of the nineteenth century with the same meaning but used only to apply to such a house or villa in Russia.

E – Emeritus (i MER ə təss)
An adjective, this word literally means “earned” in Latin. It has been in the English language since the late eighteenth century. It is used to mean “retired from active professional duty, but retaining the title of one’s position.” It is also used as a noun to mean a person having emeritus status.

F – Frankfurter (FRANK fər tər)
From German Frankfurter, short for Frankfurter Wurst, which literally means “Frankfurt sausage.”

It has become an English word since the closing years of the nineteenth century to mean “hotdog.”

G – Geisha (GAY shə)
From Japanese gei “arts’ + sha “person”