List of English words of French origin

thumb|250px|The percentage of modern English words derived from each language group:<br>[[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman French, then French: ~29%<br>Latin, including words used only in scientific, medical or legal contexts: ~29%<br>Germanic: ~26%<br>Others: ~16%]]

The prevalence of words of French origin that have been borrowed into English is comparable to that of borrowings from Latin. Estimates vary, but the general belief is that , , or possibly as many as of the English dictionary have words of French origin. This suggests that up to 80,000 words should appear in this list. The list, however, only includes words directly borrowed from French, so it includes both joy and joyous but does not include derivatives with English suffixes such as joyful, joyfulness, partisanship, and parenthood.

Estimates suggest that at least a third of English vocabulary is of French origin, with some specialists, like scholars, indicating that the proportion may be two-thirds in some registers. After the Norman Conquest led by William the Conqueror in 1066, the ruling elite introduced their Old French lexicon into England, where it gradually blended with Old English, which the Germanic language had already shaped.

Furthermore, the list excludes compound words in which only one of the elements is from French, e.g. ice cream, sunray, jellyfish, killjoy, lifeguard, and passageway, and English-made combinations of words of French origin, e.g. grapefruit (grape + fruit), layperson (lay + person), magpie, marketplace, petticoat, and straitjacket. Also excluded are words that come from French but were introduced into English via another language, e.g. commodore, domineer, filibuster, ketone, loggia, lotto, mariachi, monsignor, oboe, paella, panzer, picayune, ranch, vendue, and veneer.

English words of French origin should be distinguished from French words and expressions in English.

Although French is mostly derived from Latin, important other word sources are Gaulish and some Germanic languages, especially Old Frankish.

Latin accounts for about 60% of English vocabulary either directly or via a Romance language. As both English and French have borrowed many words from Latin, determining whether a given Latin word entered English via French or directly from Latin might in some cases be difficult.

Historical context

Most of the French vocabulary now appearing in English was borrowed in the centuries following the Norman Conquest of 1066, when England came under the rule of Norman-speaking peoples. After William the Conqueror had invaded England, subsequent rulers invaded other parts of the British Isles, distributing lands and property to Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French soldiers. As a result, Old French became the language of high culture and government. With time, it evolved into Anglo-Norman French, a language widely used by the nobility and for legal affairs (See Law French).

The use of French and Norman in the kingdom was "extremely important" from William the Conqueror's coronation in 1066 until 1260.

Words of French origin often refer to more abstract or generalized concepts than their Old English equivalents (e.g. liberty/freedom, justice/fairness, source/spring, vision/sight, sentiment/feeling); they are therefore less frequently used in everyday language. However, this is not true for all English words of French origin. Consider, for example, some of the most common words in English: able, car, chair, city, country, different, fact, fine, fruit, group, journey, juice, just, large, move, part, people, person, place, point, problem, public, push, real, remain, stay, table, travel, use, very, and wait.

After Henry Plantagenet ascended the throne of England, other French dialects gained influence at the expense of Anglo-Norman, notably the Angevin dialect from whence the House of Plantagenet came, and possibly Poitevin, the tongue of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The motto of the British monarchy was proclaimed in French as "". More recent borrowings from French have kept their original spelling and a more or less close approximation their original pronunciation: (e.g. ambiance, aplomb, arbitrage, armoire, atelier, barrage, bizarre, bonhomie, bourgeoisie, brochure, bureau, café, camaraderie, cartilage, catalogue, chandelier, chauffeur, coiffure, collage, console, contour, cortège, couturier, crèche, critique, debris, décor, dénouement, depot, detour, dossier, echelon, élite, ennui, entourage, entrepreneur, envelope, espionage, expertise, exposé, fatigue, financier, garage, genre, glacier, impasse, intrigue, liaison, lingerie, macabre, machine, marquise, massage, matinée, menagerie, métier, millionaire, mirage, montage, nuance, panache, parti pris, penchant, personnel, plaque, prestige, programme, promenade, provenance, raconteur, rapport, rapporteur, repertoire, reservoir, ricochet, riposte, routine, sabotage, sachet, sardine, souvenir, tableau, terrain, tourniquet, trait, tranche and vignette). However, this may change with time, e.g. the initial h in hotel is not silent anymore, consider also the variant pronunciations of herb and garage. Meanwhile, expressions such as femme fatale, faux pas, haute couture, bête noire and enfant terrible are still recognisably French.

Borrowing is not a one-way process (See Reborrowing). Some words of French origin ultimately come from Old English (Anglo-Saxon words): e.g. bateau, chiffon, gourmet, or Middle English: e.g. lingot. Conversely, some English words of French origin have made their way "back" into Modern French: badge, budget, cash, catch, challenge, design, discount, establishment, express, fuel, gay, gin, humour, interview, jury, magazine, management, mess, nurse, pedigree, pellet, performance, punch, rave, record, reporter, scout, spleen, sport, squat, standard, suspense, tennis, ticket, toast, toboggan, tunnel, vintage and volley.

List of English words of French origin

Historical context

A–C

D–I

J–R

S–Z

See also

References

External links