English Words from French
by Scott Miles
The English language has taken in a large amount of words from other languages.
As a matter of fact, only about 26% of the current English vocabulary is purely from the earlier forms of English.
As the chart shows, French accounts for 29% of all words in the English vocabulary. The origin of some of this borrowed vocabulary is no secret, as the words retain a strong French flavor in spelling and/or pronunciation. Genre, croissant, déjà vu, and buffet are among many such examples.
However, there are many borrowed words that the average native-speaker of English might be surprised to find out were originally of French origin. Here is a short list of food vocabulary borrowed from French.
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beef pork poultry |
caramel cream pastry pudding |
mayonnaise mustard Sauce salad |
casserole sausage soup stew |
Bon appétit!