• French Loanwords

    Did you know that there are around 200 words in the English language that are actually French loanwords? In fact, English shares words with a variety of other languages (and the same goes for many other common languages). This should be encouraging news for anyone considering learning a new language! But first…what are loanwords? Loanwords are words and phrases that one language (English, in this case) borrows directly from another language (French) in everyday conversation, such as the word cliché. English includes loanwords from many different languages but has gained a significant number directly from Latin-based and Germanic languages. Some of these include French, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch. Again, this is great news if you want to learn one of these languages. Can’t think of any examples of French loanwords? …