Wordbay · Borrowed words
English words borrowed from other languages
English takes words from everywhere. These kept something of their home language: an accent, a spelling, a way of being said.
Everyday (18)
- aficionado noun. A keen and knowledgeable fan of a particular activity or subject.
- avant-garde adjective. New and experimental, pushing beyond what is accepted in art, music or ideas.
- carte blanche noun. Complete freedom to act as you think best.
- déjà vu noun. The eerie feeling that you have already lived through the present moment.
- doppelgänger noun. Someone who looks uncannily like another person but isn't related to them.
- ennui noun. A listless weariness that comes from having nothing interesting to do.
- faux pas noun. A social blunder that causes embarrassment.
- fiasco noun. A complete and often ridiculous failure.
- hygge noun. A cosy, contented feeling of comfort and togetherness, prized in Danish life.
- je ne sais quoi noun. An appealing quality that is hard to describe or name.
- juggernaut noun. A huge, powerful force or organisation that crushes whatever stands in its way.
- karma noun. In Hinduism and Buddhism, the principle that a person's actions decide their future fate, in this life or the next.
- kowtow verb. To behave too humbly or obediently towards someone in power.
- raison d'être noun. The most important reason for someone's or something's existence.
- schadenfreude noun. Pleasure taken in someone else's bad luck.
- tsundoku noun. Buying books and letting them pile up unread.
- wanderlust noun. A strong urge to travel and see the world.
- zeitgeist noun. The spirit, mood and ideas typical of a particular period.
Well-read (25)
- bête noire noun. A person or thing that someone especially dislikes.
- bildungsroman noun. A novel that follows a young person's growth from childhood to maturity and their education in life.
- cause célèbre noun. A controversial issue or case that attracts wide public attention.
- chiaroscuro noun. A strong contrast of light and dark in a picture, used to give depth and drama.
- cognoscenti noun. People with expert knowledge of a subject, especially art, food or fashion.
- denouement noun. The final part of a story, in which the threads of the plot are drawn together and things are explained.
- éminence grise noun. A person who wields power behind the scenes without an official title.
- enfant terrible noun. A person whose unconventional or shocking behaviour unsettles their profession.
- ersatz adjective. Made as an inferior substitute for the real thing.
- fernweh noun. An ache for faraway places you have never been.
- flâneur noun. Someone who strolls about a city at leisure, idly watching its life.
- frisson noun. A sudden shiver of excitement, fear or pleasure.
- hoi polloi noun. Ordinary people, the masses, usually said with mock disdain.
- joie de vivre noun. A cheerful zest for life.
- kismet noun. Destiny or fate, especially when it seems to bring good fortune.
- kitsch noun. Art or objects in gaudy, sentimental bad taste, sometimes enjoyed ironically.
- kvetch verb. To complain persistently, usually about small things.
- leitmotif noun. A recurring tune or idea linked to a particular character, place or theme.
- mensch noun. A person of real integrity and kindness, someone to look up to.
- roman à clef noun. A novel in which real people and events appear under thin disguise as fiction.
- sangfroid noun. Calm composure in a difficult or dangerous moment.
- schmaltz noun. Excessive sentimentality, especially in music or film.
- wabi-sabi noun. A Japanese view of beauty that finds grace in imperfection, age and simplicity.
- weltschmerz noun. A gentle sadness at the gap between the world as it is and as it ought to be.
- wunderkind noun. Someone who achieves great success while still very young.
Advanced (14)
- amour propre noun. Self-respect, especially a sensitive pride that is easily wounded.
- caravanserai noun. An inn built round a courtyard, where caravans rested on the old desert trade routes.
- dolce far niente noun. Pleasant, carefree idleness.
- esprit de l'escalier noun. Thinking of the perfect reply only after the chance to say it has passed.
- gemütlichkeit noun. Warm, friendly cosiness and good cheer, as in a German tavern or home.
- Gesamtkunstwerk noun. A total work of art that unites music, drama, design and more into a single whole.
- ipse dixit phrase. A claim made on someone's authority alone, without proof.
- jolie laide noun. A person, traditionally a woman, whose unconventional looks are strikingly attractive.
- saudade noun. A deep, wistful longing for someone or something absent or lost, prized in Portuguese song.
- schlimazel noun. A habitually unlucky person to whom mishaps always seem to happen.
- sitzfleisch noun. The patience to sit still and keep working at a long, dull task.
- sprezzatura noun. Studied carelessness: making something difficult look effortless and casual.
- tu quoque phrase. A reply that dodges a criticism by accusing the critic of the same fault.
- wanderjahr noun. A year of travel and wandering, especially before settling into a career.