The Colonial Exchange

Words that crossed with empires

Colonialism left scars — and words. These traveled on ships of conquest, becoming part of languages they never chose.

3766

Words

1043

Languages

Themes

Language histories

Latina Latin (272)Ēald Englisċ Old English (190)Español Spanish (172)Français French (120)العربية Arabic (118)English English (99)Ancien Franceis Old French (80)Ἑλληνική Ancient Greek (72)

Latin272

abdicāre

To abdicate is to 'speak away' one's power —…

abominatio

Strangely, abominatio began with fear of a bad omen.

aboriginal

A Roman legend about Italy's original inhabitants gave…

aborigines

Surprisingly, aborigines began as a Roman name.

accommodation

Cicero used this word to mean adjusting your speech to…

aequator

aequātor

The equator is the 'equalizer' — the Latin word means…

aera

A Latin word for a fixed numerical starting point —…

aerial

The Greek word for hazy lower air became English's…

Africa

africa

The name of a continent came from a single Berber…

alibi

The Latin word for 'elsewhere' became a courtroom…

alumen

Humphry Davy named a metal in 1808 and accidentally…

alūmen

A bitter mineral salt that ancient dyers could not…

amicus curiae

Friend of the court — a legal status that lets a party…

amuletum

The Romans had a word for something carried to ward…

amygdule

What ancient Greeks called an almond, Victorian…

anima

Animism is the belief that the world breathes — Latin…

annexio

Annexation is the act of 'binding to' — Latin ad- (to)…

annulus

Surprisingly, annulus is a little ring with a long…

Apis

The Romans named the bee with a word whose origin no…

aqua

The Roman word for water survived two thousand years…

arbor

The Latin word for tree gave English a word for a…

arcus

The Romans did not invent the arch — the Mesopotamians…

armata

An army is not a group of soldiers. Etymologically, it…

armilla

A bracelet gave its name to the most elegant…

arte factum

Latin for 'made with skill' — the word originally…

auctio

The Latin word for an auction is built on the verb 'to…

auripigmentum

The Romans named their brightest yellow 'gold…

Aurōra

The Romans named the goddess of dawn Aurōra — related…

autumn

The Romans borrowed autumn from the Etruscans, and no…

avarice

Latin avaritia named a Roman civic failure before the…

avis strūthiō

The Romans called the largest bird on Earth a…

Belgium

belgium

Caesar praised a people; nearly two thousand years…

binary-star

More than half of all stars in the sky are two stars…

bonus

A good thing—extra payment beyond obligation, rooted…

caelestis

The Latin word for 'belonging to the sky' — from…

calculus

Before mathematics had symbols, Romans did arithmetic…

calculus

Calculus means 'small stone' in Latin. The Romans used…

calx

The White Cliffs of Dover, the bones in your hand, the…

camerarius

The Lord Chamberlain managed the king's private…

Campania

An open plain in northeastern France gave its name to…

campus

Campus means 'field' in Latin — an open flat area —…

Canariae Insulae

The canary bird is named after the Canary Islands—but…

cancellāre

Romans drew crossbars over text to void it — prison…

cancellārius

One of the most powerful titles in Western government…

canna

A Latin word for a hollow reed became, through Arabic…

capitalis

The word for accumulated wealth began as the Latin…

caput

A cape of land and a cape you wear share the same…

caseus

Latin caseus gave English cheese, Spanish queso, and…

castellum

In Catalonia, groups of people stack themselves into…

castellum

Castle comes from the Latin for a small fort — and the…

catenary

The curve a hanging chain makes between two points is…

catinus

Kettle comes from Old Norse ketill, which comes from…

cecum

Roman physicians named the intestine's starting pouch…

centrum + fugere

You're being thrown outward by a force that doesn't…

centurio

The Roman centurion — the professional backbone of the…

circumnavigate

Latin gave this verb to Roman sailors; Magellan gave…

circumnavigatio

Circumnavigation is sailing around — Latin…

civitas

A city was never a place. It was a people. The Latin…

cliens

A client was not a customer but a dependent — in Roman…

codex

The codex — the ancestor of every modern book — was…

cognatus

A cognate is a blood relative — Latin cognatus meant…

cohors

The word for a place of justice started as the Latin…

Colombia

colombia

A country named for a man who never set foot in it.

colony

The Romans sent colonists to hold land they had taken;…

comes

The Latin word for a companion — comes, someone who…

comes stabuli

The highest-ranking police officer in the…

congressus

Congress means 'walking together' — Latin con-…

constituentia

Constituency comes from Latin constituere — to…

constitūtiō

A Latin word meaning simply 'to set up together'…

consul

Two men elected annually to run the Roman Republic,…

continēns

The Latin word for continuous, unbroken land gave…

coquina

The kitchen is named from the Latin for 'cooking…

corōna

The coin called a crown was named for the crown…

cortex

The outer layer of the brain is named for tree bark —…

crescere

A crescent is the shape of a moon that is growing —…

culcita

The Latin word for a stuffed mattress crossed into Old…

culīna

culina

The Latin word for kitchen has been cooking inside…

curriculum

The same Latin word that now means a school syllabus…

Czechia

czechia

The official short name that took the world seventy…

datum

The Latin word for 'something given' — a thing cast,…

debentur

A debenture is a long-term debt instrument — a bond…

Deciduous

deh-SID-yoo-us

The Latin word for falling away gave botany its most…

deity

Surprisingly, deity is the plain state of being a god.

denarius

The Roman silver coin worth ten asses was so…

dilapidatus

dī-lapidātus

A building falls apart stone by stone. The Romans had…

diluvium

Latin named an overwhelming flood with a word built…

dissertatio

dissertātiō

A dissertation is a long argument — the Latin word…

divinity

Surprisingly, divinity begins with what is divine, not…

Dominica

dominica

Columbus arrived on a Sunday and named an entire…

dominium

The master of a household gave his name to a word that…

domus

The Latin word for a house — the fundamental shelter…

dux

The Latin word for a leader — dux, from ducere, to…

Ecuador

ecuador

A country that named itself for the invisible line…

ēdictum

Roman magistrates 'spoke out' their policies on the…

ēmancipātiō

The word for freedom contains the Latin word for hand…

envy

The sin of wanting what others have is named for the…

ergo

Therefore. Descartes made it famous with 'I think,…

Estonia

estonia

A Roman name for Baltic amber traders accidentally…

eternal

The Romans coined a word for timelessness that…

excruciating

Excruciating pain is pain off the cross—literally. The…

exit

Every exit sign in every building is a conjugated…

expert

The world's experts were once simply people who had…

facturas

Argentine anarchist bakers named their pastries after…

faith

Surprisingly, faith began as trust pledged between…

fames

A Latin word for hunger became a word for…

feral

The Latin word for untamed animals that escaped and…

fībula

The thinner bone in your lower leg is called a fibula…

forum

The Roman forum was not a building but an open…

fraternity

A word for brotherhood that outlived the empire that…

Germany

Julius Caesar named a people who never used his label…

grānārium

The Latin word for a grain storehouse named the…

granum

Granite means 'grainy' — the same root as grain,…

grānum

The word for a single seed became the word for an…

gratis

Gratis means free-as-in-favor, not…

habitare

A simple Latin word meaning 'to dwell' became…

hibiscus

A Latin word for a marsh mallow wandered through…

Hispanic

hispanic

Rome named a peninsula; Washington named a people.

hospitāle

A Latin word for a place that welcomes guests became…

Iberian

iberian

The Iberians named two different peoples on opposite…

imperātor

The title that named the rulers of Rome, Byzantium,…

initiatio

Initiation is going in — Latin initiatio meant the act…

inoculare

Inoculation is a gardening term — Latin inoculare…

inquisitio

Inquisition means 'inquiry' — the same word that…

insurgent

A Latin word for 'rising up' became the word for…

interrēgnum

The gap between kings has its own Latin word — because…

ischium

Greece named the sitting bone after the concept of…

itinerans

An itinerant is a journey-maker — Latin itinerans came…

itinerarium

itinerārium

Romans carved their itineraries into stone pillars…

Iūlius

July was called Quintilis — 'the fifth month' — until…

iurisprudentia

Jurisprudence — 'knowledge of the law' — is the…

joke

Joke arrived in English as Latin student slang in the…

juniperus

The tree that flavors gin has a name that may mean…

lararium

Every Roman home kept a small shrine to its household…

lardārium

lardarium

The word for a food storage room comes from the Latin…

latitudo

Latitude means breadth — the wide lines circling the…

latrocinium

Larceny — the legal word for theft — descends from the…

lavatory

A Roman washing room became the world's most…

lēgiōnārius

The word for a Roman soldier survived the empire by…

libra

The British pound symbol £ is a stylized letter L —…

limen

Liminality is the condition of the threshold — Latin…

locusta

The same Latin word — locusta — meant both 'locust'…

longitudo

Longitude means length — the long lines running from…

lumen

Cold light—the glow of fireflies and fungi—earned its…

lūnāticus

For two thousand years, humans believed the full moon…

lūstrum

lustrum

Before it meant five years, a lustrum was a…

magnum

A Latin word meaning simply 'great' or 'large' — the…

mandatum

A mandate is a command placed in your hands — Latin…

Mārs

The Roman god of war became the adjective for military…

matricula

mātrīcula

To matriculate is to be entered on a list — the Latin…

matrix

The word for a mother's womb, borrowed to name a…

Mauritius

mauritius

An island named for a Dutch prince who never landed…

maxilla

The upper jaw carries a Latin diminutive that once…

memento mori

A slave stood behind Roman generals during their…

mercator

The Latin word for a trader — one who deals in merx,…

Mercurius

The fastest planet and the only metal that is liquid…

mercy

Unexpectedly, mercy began with payment withheld.

meridianus

Meridian — the imaginary line that runs from pole to…

merīdiēs

A.M. and P.M. — the two abbreviations that divide…

migrare

The Latin word migrare just meant 'to move.' It said…

milia passuum

mīlia passuum

A mile is a thousand paces — specifically, a thousand…

milliarium

The milestone measured a thousand paces — Latin…

minūta

minuta

A minute is not named for its duration but for its…

miracle

Unexpectedly, miracle began with simple wonder.

monēre

monere

Your computer screen is named after a Latin verb…

moneta

The place where money is made takes its name from a…

mons

mons / montis

Vermont is French for 'green mountain.' Montreal is…

munitio

mūnītiō

The Latin word for 'fortification' became the English…

mūsculus

Roman anatomists watched a flexed bicep ripple under…

mustum ardens

The Romans mixed crushed seeds with mustum —…

navigare

nāvigāre

A Latin compound of 'ship' and 'to drive' — the word…

navis

The central hall of every church in the Western world…

navis

The nave of a church, the nausea in your stomach, and…

Neptunus

The planet was found by mathematics before anyone saw…

nova

The Latin word for 'new' — nova stella, a new star —…

obliterate

To obliterate is literally to strike the letters off a…

obsessio

obsessiō

The word originally described a military siege — the…

obsidianus

Obsidian is volcanic glass — lava quenched so rapidly…

occidens

If the Orient is where the sun rises, the Occident is…

omnibus

The word 'bus' is actually the last syllable of a…

omnipotent

A Latin compound for total power that theologians…

oriens

To orient yourself is to find the east — because…

oscillate

The word for swinging comes from tiny masks hung in…

pāgānus

A Latin word meaning 'country dweller' — a rural…

Palatium

Palātium

Every palace in every language traces back to one hill…

parietal

Parietal named the skull's walls long before it named…

pen

Your pen is named after a feather. The word carries…

penicillum

Alexander Fleming's contaminated petri dish in 1928…

persōna

per-soh-nah

A human being started as the word for a mask. We are…

pinus

The Latin word for pine may share a root with 'pain'…

plēbēius

The Latin word for the Roman common people — plebs —…

plēbiscītum

When the common people of Rome voted without the…

plicare

The Latin verb for folding — plicare, to bend cloth…

plumbārius

Every plumber carries the Latin word for lead in their…

pōmum grānātum

The name means 'apple full of seeds,' which is a…

pondo

The abbreviation 'lb' for pound comes from the Latin…

port

The left side of a ship is named for the harbor —…

porticus

A covered walkway that colonized the edges of Roman…

Portugal

Two Latin words for a harbor fused together, and that…

portus

The Latin word for a harbor was also the word for a…

prayer

Oddly, prayer began as a spoken plea.

principatus

Latin principatus named Augustus Caesar's form of…

professor

A professor is someone who professes — who publicly…

proverb

Unexpectedly, proverb began as a word put forth in…

quadrans

Quadrant means a quarter — and the navigational…

radius

A Latin word for a beam of light became the technology…

rebelliō

The word comes from Latin rebellāre, meaning 'to wage…

reciprocity

Rome built this word to face in two directions at once.

redemption

Before it meant salvation, it meant paying cash to…

reflex

Your knee jerks before your brain knows it happened.…

regimentum

A regiment was originally a system of government — it…

rēte

The light-sensitive layer at the back of your eye is…

revolūtiō

The word originally meant a turning back to the…

riparius

The English word for flowing water originally meant…

rubeus

Latin named it simply for its redness — rubeus, red —…

ruminate

This word for deep thought began as a description of…

sacrament

Strangely, sacrament began as a soldier's oath.

saint

Unexpectedly, saint first meant simply holy.

salarium

Roman soldiers were paid in salt—or at least that's…

salvus

salvus / salvia

The herb and the wise person share a spelling but not…

San Salvador

San Salvador named Christ before the country borrowed…

sanctity

Surprisingly, sanctity starts with being set apart.

Scandinavia

scandinavia

The name Scandinavia contains an n that Pliny the…

schedule

A papyrus strip in Alexandria became the word for your…

scholaris

The word 'scholar' traces back to the Greek schole,…

science

Latin's word for mere knowing became the name for…

scrinium

A shrine began as a box — a Roman chest for storing…

secunda

The second is not called 'second' because it follows…

senātor

The Roman Senate took its name from senex — 'old man'…

senātus

The Roman Senate took its name from senex — old man —…

serica

A worsted wool named, at its deepest root, for the…

sericum

Sericulture is the culture of the silk worm — Latin…

sestertius

sēstertius

The standard Roman accounting coin — the sestertius —…

sinister

The Latin word for 'left-handed' became the English…

Slovakia

slovakia

A nation named for the act of speaking one's own…

solidus

The Roman gold coin called the solidus — from the…

Spain

Rome named the rabbit-land, and the rabbit-land became…

Spanish

spanish

The name Spanish arrived in English before Spain…

spectrum

A specter and a spectrum are the same word — Latin…

stipendium

Roman soldiers were paid in stipendia — and two…

stipulārī

Roman contracts were sealed by a verbal exchange — 'Do…

suffrāgium

The Romans cast their votes with small tablets called…

taxare

Tax, taste, and tangible all come from the same Latin…

tempestas

Latin named time and weather with the same word —…

termes

Termites build structures taller relative to body size…

terra firma

Solid earth. Venice called its mainland territories…

terra incognita

The phrase cartographers wrote across blank spaces on…

terrēnum

The word for the ground you walk on comes from the…

thuribulum

thūribulum

The Latin word for a censer — the metal vessel swung…

torta

Rome twisted bread into a word that Mexico turned into…

traditio

The Latin word meant 'a handing over' — which is what…

Trastevere

trastevere

Rome's oldest immigrant quarter was named simply the…

tribus

The Romans divided their citizens into tribus for…

tributarius

tribūtārius

The word for a smaller river flowing into a larger one…

tripa

The intestine that Rome named tripa feeds Mexico City…

trirēmis

A ship powered by 170 oars arranged in three stacked…

tructa

The Latin name for trout may come from a Greek word…

uncialis

Uncial script gave the medieval world its most…

valedictio

valedictiō

The valedictorian says goodbye — the Latin root means…

Venus

The Romans named the brightest object in the night sky…

verbena

Romans gathered this herb for their most sacred…

vernaculus

The Latin word meant 'belonging to home-born slaves' —…

vestment

Surprisingly, vestment was once just any garment.

veterinarian

Veterinarian was built from the Latin name for old,…

via

The Romans built roads so straight and so durable that…

villa

A Roman villa was not a vacation retreat — it was a…

villa

Every village on earth is named after a rich Roman's…

vindemia

vindēmia

A Latin word for the grape harvest — the annual act of…

vinum

vīnum

A word older than Rome itself — borrowed from a lost…

vīrus

virus

For two thousand years, virus meant poison or slime.…

vivid

English borrowed the Latin word for alive and turned…

vox populi

The voice of the people. Medieval scholars believed it…

vulgaris

The Latin word for 'of the common people' described…

Old English190

æcer

A measurement born from the strength of one ox on one…

ǣl

ael

Nobody has ever seen an eel reproduce. For 2,400 years…

æmette

Ants have been farming for 60 million years. Humans…

æsc

aesc

The Vikings believed the world was held up by an ash…

again

Old English ongean once meant opposite and only later…

apple

The word for earth's most common fruit predates Rome,…

barmy

The word for crazy came from the froth on a fermenting…

barn

BARN

The barn is not a building for animals. It was built…

béacen

bēacen

The fires that Anglo-Saxons lit on hilltops to warn of…

became

Became preserves a Germanic verb meaning to arrive at…

beginning

Old English split a Proto-Germanic root in two to coin…

beorc

The word 'birch' comes from the same Indo-European…

bere / bǣrlic

Barley was the first grain humans learned to brew into…

biter

The word for a sharp, unpleasant taste was originally…

blat

This word sounds exactly like what it describes, and…

blōstm

English has two words for the same event: 'blossom'…

boat

A single Old English syllable has crossed every age of…

bōc

The English word for the most enduring knowledge…

bræs

braes

One of the oldest alloy words in English, brass has no…

brēad

The Old English word for bread was not 'bread.' It was…

brimstone

Before it was sulfur and before it was a chemical…

Brixton

brixton

A Saxon boundary stone named for a forgotten landowner…

brȳd

The origin of the word 'bride' is genuinely unknown —…

bryne

Before refrigeration existed, the difference between…

buttorfleoge

Nobody knows why the English named this insect after…

byht

The Old English word for a bend in a rope became the…

bywater

The English compound that named still pools and the…

cerran

The Old English word for turning became the English…

clēat

The small metal fitting that secures a rope to a dock…

clūd

Old English clūd meant 'rock' or 'hill' — the word was…

clutch

One Old English verb grew into a mechanical device, a…

cnafa

Knave meant a boy, then a male servant, then a rogue —…

cnedan

Knead is one of the oldest cooking words in English —…

cnēow

The word 'knee' contains a silent k because English…

cniht

The Old English word for a boy or a servant — cniht —…

cofa

A cove was originally a chamber or a room — the same…

crabba

The word for the sideways-walking crustacean may come…

curs

Nobody knows where the word 'curse' comes from — it…

cyning

The word probably comes from the Proto-Germanic word…

Dalston

dalston

A Saxon farmer named Deorla gave a London neighborhood…

dēor

deor

Before it meant a graceful antlered creature in the…

dōm

Doom originally meant a judgment, a law, a decree —…

dox

Dusk comes from an Old English word meaning…

dragan

The depth a ship sinks into water is called draft—from…

dragan

Draughts — the British name for checkers — comes from…

dragan

The word for the heavy cart that delivered beer…

drēosan

An Old English word meaning 'to fall' or 'to drip' —…

drone

The male bee that never works gave us the sound of…

drūgoþ

Old English named the drying of the land with a word…

dwindle

Dwindle was born from a verb already fading when…

Ealing

ealing

Ealing began as a tribe, not a town, west of Roman…

earwig

Old English named this insect for the ear it never…

Easter

easter

The only major Christian feast with a name that…

ebba

The retreating tide gave English a metaphor for…

eleven

Eleven is arithmetic made visible in Old English hands.

elm

The word has not changed in over a thousand years. The…

eyelash

Eyelash hides a word for a whip stroke inside a body…

fealdan

To fold in cooking means to combine without deflating…

felt

Felt is the oldest known textile technology —…

fenn

The waterlogged flatlands of East Anglia are called…

feor

Distance measured not in miles but in longing.

fēowertīene niht

Old English counted time by nights rather than days —…

finc

A plain Germanic word for a common garden bird ended…

flēah

A flea can jump 150 times its own body length. If a…

flēos

The word 'fleece' has meant a sheep's woolly coat for…

flint

For two million years, this stone was the most…

freedom

Freedom began as the Proto-Germanic word for love, not…

galga

The word for the execution frame descends from a term…

gangweg

The word for the ramp connecting a ship to a dock is…

gearn

Yarn is both the thread and the story — Old English…

giernan

Yearning is the emotion that has no object — or…

glæs

The word may come from a Proto-Germanic root meaning…

gōdspel

Old English speakers translated the Greek word for…

gol

The word 'goal' appeared in the 16th century with an…

gold

The English word comes from a Proto-Germanic root…

grytt

grit

Ground corn boiled to a mush: the dish is Native…

hæmp

Hemp is one of the oldest useful plants — Old English…

hæsel

Hazel is one of the oldest plant words in English,…

hæth

The open, wind-swept moorland of Britain carries one…

hamor

Hammer is one of the oldest tool words in any Germanic…

headland

The Old English compound for a promontory — the head…

hearpe

The harp is the oldest stringed instrument type still…

hecg

The word 'hedge' in 'hedge fund' comes from the same…

helma

An Old English word for a ship's steering device — the…

heorþ

The Old English word for the floor of the fireplace…

herebeorg

A word that began as a military encampment — shelter…

highway

Old English heahweg meant the chief road because…

hlǣfdige

Lady meant bread kneader — the woman who worked the…

hlāford

Lord began as hlāf-weard — bread guard — the person…

hleo + weard

hleo-weard

An Old English compound meaning 'toward the shelter' —…

holy

Holy began as a word for wholeness.

hulu

An Old English word meaning 'husk' or 'shell' — the…

hwæl

hwael

The largest animal that has ever lived — larger than…

hwǣte

The word 'wheat' comes from a Proto-Germanic root…

hweorfa + wind

The word is Old English for 'turning wind' — and it…

ifig

Ivy was the sacred plant of Dionysus, and the phrase…

inning

An innings was a reclaiming of land from the sea — Old…

Ireland

ireland

Ireland's name encodes a goddess older than any saint…

Islington

islington

A forgotten Saxon's hill became one of London's most…

lēad

The heaviest common word in English is also one of the…

lencten

Lent has nothing to do with religion etymologically —…

lic

The undead sorcerer of fantasy games was just the Old…

loppestre

Lobster was once so cheap and abundant in colonial New…

mæddre

The oldest red dye in the human toolkit came from a…

mæst

The tall spar that carries a ship's sails shares its…

mapuldor

Nobody knows what the Old English word actually meant,…

mearh

The substance inside your bones has been called marrow…

meolc

The word milk originally described the action of…

mere + maid

mere + mǣden

The word 'mermaid' is a simple compound: 'mere' (sea…

mete

Long before it meant the flesh of animals, this word…

midniht

Midnight is the middle of the night — the most literal…

mōd

In Old English, mood did not mean a passing emotional…

mōnandæg

Monday is the Moon's day, and almost every language in…

mor

The open, boggy uplands of Britain are called moors —…

mōrian

The word for tying a ship to a fixed point comes from…

morning

The word for dawn carries the ghost of a flickering…

moþþe

The word 'moth' is older than the word 'butterfly' —…

nǣddre

naeddre

The snake was a nadder for a thousand years until the…

nun

Surprisingly, nun may come from a word for an elderly…

on bæftan

A word that has spent a thousand years meaning the…

overcome

The wave image in overcome is not a metaphor but the…

penning

The oldest English coin name still in daily use —…

popæg

The poppy is the only flower that simultaneously…

prættiġ

praettig

Before it meant attractive, pretty meant cunning,…

pyle

A Germanic word for a small cushion supporting the…

quench

To extinguish — but when a blacksmith quenches hot…

ribb

The English word 'rib' has barely changed in twelve…

Roxbury

roxbury

A Saxon rook's perch became Boston's oldest…

scealu

The Old English word for a shell or husk became the…

scīene

The Old English word meant 'beautiful' — then it…

scilling

The shilling — twelve pence, one-twentieth of a pound…

shire-reeve

scīr-gerēfa (Old English)

An official sent by a king to collect taxes became the…

sculdor

The word 'shoulder' has no known relatives outside…

sēarian

searian

An Old English word for drying out and withering — the…

sengan

The Old English word for a light burn has survived…

seofon nihta

Before there was a 'week,' English speakers counted…

seolfor

The word has no clear etymology — unlike 'gold' (the…

slǣwþ

slaewth

English named a tropical mammal after a deadly sin —…

slider

America's smallest sandwich carries an Old English…

smōc

The Old English word for smoke was also the word for…

sorg

Sorrow is one of the few emotion words English kept…

spindel

An Old English word built from the verb 'to spin' —…

spīþra

The Old English word for spider means 'spinner' — and…

squeeze

Squeeze started as a bruise-word in Anglo-Saxon…

stēorbord

The right side of a ship is the 'steering board' side…

steorfan

This word once meant simply to die — from any cause,…

stice

A stitch was originally a prick of pain — Old English…

stigweard

Steward was stigweard — hall-guardian — the official…

stirrup

A loop of leather and iron so simple that it changed…

stool

A word once used for thrones now has considerably less…

storc

The Germanic word probably meant 'the stiff one,'…

straight

Straight began as a past participle: something fully…

stȳle / stæl

stȳle

The word may come from a Proto-Germanic root meaning…

sunnandæg

The English week begins with a pagan sun god. Half of…

þæc

thæc

The Old English word for a roof covering — reeds,…

þegn

thane

The Anglo-Saxon word for a warrior-nobleman who held…

þistel

thistel

Scotland's national emblem is a weed. Legend says a…

thought

Old English confused two verbs for centuries before…

threshing

The most violent moment in farming — beating the grain…

Þūnresdæg

Thunresdæg

Jupiter threw lightning bolts. Thor swung a hammer.…

þȳmel

thymel

An Old English word built from 'thumb' — þȳmel, a…

tīd

Tide originally meant time in Old English —…

Tīwesdæg

The Romans gave this day to Mars, the god of war. The…

twili

An Old English word meaning 'two-threaded' —…

understand

To understand something once meant to stand in the…

wād

Before indigo arrived from India, Europeans had only…

Wapping

wapping

An Anglo-Saxon clan name became England's most feared…

weakness

The word that once described bent wood before it…

weaned

The word for leaving the breast once meant simply…

wecg

A wedge is a portable inclined plane — the simplest of…

weekdays

Weekday meant not holy long before it meant not a…

wer

One of the oldest surviving English words for a…

wergild

Wergild — the 'man-price' — was the sum of money that…

whey

The thin, watery liquid left after milk curdles has…

wicce

The Old English word 'wicce' (feminine; masculine:…

wice

A week is seven days because Babylonian astronomers…

wicked

A wizard's name became the English word for moral ruin.

widewe

The word comes from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning…

wind + weard

windweard

Every Caribbean island has a windward side and a…

wīnġeard

wīngeard

An Old English compound that yoked together the Roman…

winter

Germanic peoples once measured their age in winters,…

Wōdnesdæg

Wednesday has a silent letter because English tried to…

wrath

Wrath is the most religious word on the list of deadly…

wren

Europe's smallest common bird carries one of the…

wrencan

A wrench was a twist of the body before it was a tool…

wrinkle

Wrinkle once named a water ripple before it claimed…

writ

For a thousand years, English law moved by written…

wrought

The past tense that outlived its own verb — the worked…

wull

The word has barely changed in four thousand years —…

yellow

Yellow shares its ancestry with gold, bile, and…

Spanish172

adobo

A word for seasoning traveled farther than the empire…

aficionado

Spanish bullfight fans called themselves lovers of the…

ajoblanco

Ajoblanco predates every tomato in Andalusia by a…

alcorque

A Spanish word borrowed from Arabic — itself possibly…

alfajores

An Arabic word for filling became the name of the…

alvear

The Spanish word for beehive or apiary traces to the…

anchoas

A Basque word for a small oily fish reshaped the salt…

anisado

Spanish colonists distilled anise into Philippine…

armada

ar·MA·da

The word for a fleet of warships entered English with…

armadillo

The armored animal of the Americas is named with the…

arroyo

An arroyo is a dry creek bed that can fill with…

asado

A verb for roasting became the Southern Cone's civic…

atabal

The Moorish war drum carried its Arabic article across…

ayudar

A Latin word for divine favor that became ordinary…

azúcar

azucar

Azucar carried an Arabic article across the…

Bahamas

These islands took their name from the shallow sea,…

banderillas

The decorated darts of the bullfighting ring gave…

barrio

Barrio names a neighborhood, but it carries within it…

bizcocho

A Spanish cake whose name still remembers Roman…

bolero

A Spanish dance in triple time, a Cuban song form in…

bonanza

The word for a sudden windfall originally meant 'good…

boquerones

Spain's fresh anchovies take their name from the…

bravada

A word for false courage came from a language that…

bronco

The word for an untamed horse literally means 'rough'…

cabrales

Asturias's cave-aged blue cheese carries the Latin…

cajeta

Mexico's most famous caramel takes its name from the…

calabozo

The American frontier's slang for a local jail came…

calima

A Spanish word for the hot, dust-laden haze that blows…

callos

The tough lining of a cow's stomach became Madrid's…

camarada

Before it was a political greeting, comrade meant…

cañón

Spanish explorers borrowed a word for a hollow tube…

carbonada

Argentina's winter stew was named for coal and now…

carga

A Spanish word meaning 'to load' — from the Latin for…

carnitas

The name means 'little meats' — and the diminutive is…

cazuela

A clay cooking pot whose name traveled from Rome…

ceviche

A cold fish dish carries the ghost of a hot Persian…

chaveta

A cigar maker's blade is a Latin key with its teeth…

churro

Spain's ridged fried dough may be named after a…

cincha

When you say something is 'a cinch,' you are borrowing…

cochinilla

When the Spanish conquered Mexico, they found the…

cochinillo

A farmer's summons became the Spanish word for…

cocido

A Latin verb's past participle became Spain's most…

Colorado Springs

Colorado means ruddy red, and that color named a…

conquistador

con·quis·ta·DOR

The men who conquered the Americas carried a title…

conchas

Mexico's most beloved sweet bread wears the ocean's…

consuelo

Consolation, comfort, solace. Also a given name—you…

cortado

Spanish baristas named a drink after the act of…

criollos

Born in the New World but never quite of it, criollos…

cubano

Cuban cigar workers in Tampa built a sandwich that…

cucaracha

The English word cockroach has nothing to do with…

curandera

Across Latin America, the curandera stands at the…

derecho

A Spanish word meaning 'straight' or 'direct' —…

desperado

A desperado was originally a man who had lost all hope…

doblón

The Spanish gold coin that financed empires and filled…

el lagarto

el la·GAR·to

Spanish explorers arrived in Florida and saw a…

empanada

The stuffed pastry is named for the bread that wraps…

escotilla

To scuttle a ship is to deliberately sink it — and the…

esposa

The Spanish word for wife is also the word for…

estampida

A Spanish word for a loud crash or stamp became the…

estrenar

To use or wear something for the first time—Spanish…

flamenco

The Spanish word for 'Flemish' — a Fleming from…

flotilla

Flotilla is a diminutive — a 'little fleet' — and the…

galeón

The great treasure ships of Spain took their name from…

garrote

The garrote was Spain's method of execution until 1974…

gazpacho

Spain's most famous cold soup began as a soldier's…

Geronimo

A Greek saint's name traveled through three languages…

gracia

A Carmelite convent gave Barcelona's most bohemian…

granada

Spanish soldiers named their exploding spheres after…

gringa

A flour-tortilla quesadilla in Mexico City wears a…

guerrilla

When Napoleon invaded Spain, the Spanish fought back…

habanera

ha-ba-NEH-ra

The rhythm that made Carmen one of opera's most…

Honduras

Columbus cursed the depths, and the coast kept his…

incomunicado

Incommunicado — held without communication — entered…

izquierda

Spanish borrowed its word for left from a language…

jamón

jamon

The Spanish word for ham is a French word for leg…

junta

A simple word for joining became the cold name of…

juzgado

The Old West slang for jail started as the Spanish…

canasta

kah-NAHS-tah

The card game that swept the English-speaking world in…

la reata

The lasso that roped cattle across the American West…

Las Vegas

The gambling capital of the world was named for a pair…

Las Palmas

las-palmas

A military camp named for its palms became the gateway…

lechon

Lechon names a pig by what it drank before it was…

lomo

Spain's most prized cold cut traces its name to the…

longanisa

A Roman sausage from Lucania traveled to Manila in a…

Los Angeles

A feast day in 1769 gave its name to the city of ten…

macho

The Latin word for male became Spanish slang for…

madrugada

The hours between midnight and dawn—a specific time…

magdalenas

A small Spanish muffin carries the name of a weeping…

majorero

Fuerteventura's ancient goat cheese carries the name…

manchamanteles

Named not for its ingredients but for what it does to…

manchego

A cheese named after Arabic for the dry place became…

manjar

A medieval French verb for eating became South…

mantilla

The lace veil worn by Spanish women in churches and at…

Marquesas

marquesas

These islands were named for a Spanish noblewoman who…

marquesitas

A crispy Yucatán street wafer named for a Spanish…

marquesote

Oaxaca's oldest sponge cake carries a colonial title…

medialunas

Argentina's breakfast pastry carries the crescent…

menudo

Mexico's hangover cure carries a Latin adjective for…

merino

Merino wool — the softest, finest wool in the world —…

mesa

The Spanish word for table — the piece of furniture…

mesteño

The mustang — America's wild horse — carries in its…

mole

A regional sauce name became an English culinary…

molletes

A Latin word for softness became Mexico's essential…

montaditos

The Spanish verb for horse-riding became the name for…

Montego Bay

A bay named for pig fat became Jamaica's second city.

mozárabe

mozarab

Christians who became Arabic without becoming Muslim.

natilla

Spanish cream took a diminutive suffix and became a…

obleas

A communion wafer became Colombia's most beloved…

ombú

ombu

The pampas tree is barely wood. Its name still rooted…

paleta

The shoulder cut of a pig was named after a garden…

palomino

The golden horse takes its name from the Spanish word…

pampero

The cold wind that sweeps across the Argentine plains…

panela

Sugarcane pressed into a bread-shaped block: the…

paso doble

Literally 'double step' in Spanish — a march played as…

pastilla

Moorish exiles carried this sweet-savory pigeon pie…

patio

The patio is the inner courtyard of a Spanish house —…

pecadillo

pe·ca·DIL·lo

A little sin — the diminutive of the Spanish word for…

pepino

A melon took the old Spanish word for cucumber and…

pepitoria

A dish named for seeds became a method, then a memory…

peso

The Spanish word for 'weight' became the name of a…

picadillo

A dish named for the knife work it demands, not the…

piedra de ijada

Spanish conquistadors thought this green stone cured…

pinchos

Latin's sharpest verb gave Spanish its word for the…

platina

Spanish conquistadors found a silver-colored metal in…

playa

The Spanish word for "beach" became the geological…

plaza

Plaza descends from the Greek word for 'broad' — the…

polvorones

Spain's crumbliest cookie takes its name from the…

porra

The word for a policeman's stick became Spain's…

pronto

When English speakers say 'pronto,' they think they…

puchero

A Roman porridge pot gave its name to the daily meal…

puerquitos

Mexico's gingerbread pig carries Latin's oldest word…

Puerto Vallarta

puerto-vallarta

Las Peñas became Puerto Vallarta in 1918, honoring a…

Punta Arenas

The world's southernmost large city took its name from…

querencia

In bullfighting, the spot where the bull feels safest…

querubin

A Hebrew throne guardian became the round-faced cherub…

raciones

Spain's grandest bar portions trace back to Roman…

rajas

A Latin scraping verb became the name for Mexico's…

raspado

A scraping sound named Mexico's most ubiquitous frozen…

renegado

The word for a rebel was first used for Christians who…

rodeo

The Spanish word for a cattle roundup — from rodear,…

rogel

Argentina's most theatrical cake hides its origin in a…

rosquillas

Spain's ring-shaped fritters trace back to a Latin…

salmorejo

Salmorejo hides a medieval Arabic condiment inside its…

salpicón

salpicon

Salpicón is what a good cook makes from yesterday's…

salsa

The Spanish word for sauce — salsa, from Latin sal,…

San Antonio

A Portuguese saint's feast day gave a Texas city its…

San Diego

Sebastián Vizcaíno named a California bay for a friar…

sancocho

Half-cooked in origin, sancocho became the most-shared…

sangría

Spanish for 'bloodletting' — the same word used for…

Santa Fe

The oldest American state capital was named for a…

Santo Domingo

santo-domingo

The oldest European city in the Americas carries a…

cilantro

si·LAN·tro

The same plant goes by two names in English depending…

sicario

A cartel word traces back to first-century assassins…

sierra

The Spanish word for a saw became the name for jagged…

siesta

The Romans counted their day from the sixth…

sombrero

The word just means 'hat' — but the shadow it casts…

tapas

A piece of bread placed over a wine glass became…

tapeo

Spain coined a verb for eating its way through a city.

zarabanda

tha-ra-BAN-da

One of the most solemn movements in baroque music…

tocino

Spain's salted pig fat became the Philippines'…

toquilla

The Panama hat is not Panamanian. Its fiber is named…

tornado

The violent storm that twisted its way from Spanish to…

trapo

A Spanish rag became the sharpest insult in Philippine…

trasnochar

To stay awake through the night, to be awake during…

tronada

Spanish sailors caught in tropical thunderstorms gave…

usted

The Spanish word for you was once a three-word title…

vamos

Vamoose is the American West's most emphatic word for…

vaquero

The most American-sounding cowboy word is actually a…

vigilante

The Spanish word for a watchman or guard — from Latin…

zanahoria

The Spanish word for carrot carries eight centuries of…

zapateado

The zapateado is named after the shoe — zapato in…

zorro

The Spanish fox slipped from trickster slang into a…

Greek

122

ἀχάτης

akhátēs

A stone named for a Sicilian river carried that…

ἀμάραντος

amárantos

The Greeks imagined a flower that never faded, and…

amenorrhea

Surprisingly, amenorrhea literally means the month…

ἀμνηστία

amnēstía

The ancient Greeks believed a city could heal itself…

ἀμφορεύς

amphoreus

Greek for 'carried on both sides,' the amphora was the…

ἄγκυρα

ánkyra

A Greek word for a bent hook — something that catches…

anthrōpos + logos

anthrōpos logos

Anthropology — the study of humans — was formally…

ἀπόγειον

apógeion

The word for the moon's farthest point from Earth is…

ἀποθήκη

apothēkē

A Greek word for a storehouse became the name for the…

ἀψίνθιον

apsínthion

A Greek word for wormwood — a bitter, aromatic herb…

ἀργόν

argón

They named it lazy because it refuses to react with…

ἀριστοκρατία

aristokratía

The Greeks named rule by the best — aristoi, the…

Ἄτλας

Atlas

A Titan sentenced to hold up the sky gave his name to…

αὐτοκρατορία

autokratía

A Greek word meaning 'self-rule' — the power to rule…

βάρβαρος

barbaros

The Greeks heard foreign languages as meaningless…

βούτυρον

boútyron

The Greeks watched the Scythians smear a strange paste…

catechumen

Oddly, catechumen first meant someone being sounded…

chamomile

Greeks named it earth-apple because the flowers smell…

χρόνος

chro-nos

The precision marine timekeeper that solved the…

cumin

Surprisingly, cumin is a spice word that traveled with…

διάδημα

diádēma

Alexander the Great wore a strip of white cloth around…

δίοδος

diodos

The tiny component that allows current to flow in only…

δίπλωμα

díplōma

The credential on your wall takes its name from the…

eclectic

Logic, lexicon, and eclectic all trace to a single…

εἰκών

eikṓn

A Greek word meaning 'image' or 'likeness' — a picture…

elegy

Strangely, elegy began as a meter, not a funeral poem.

emetikos

An emetic causes vomiting — and for most of medical…

endemos

endemic

Greek endemos means 'dwelling in' a people or place. A…

ἐφήμερος

ephḗmeros

A word meaning 'lasting only a day' became the name…

ἐπίσκοπος

epískopos

A Greek word meaning 'overseer' — someone who watches…

ethmoid

Every breath you take passes through a bone riddled…

fasolada

Greece's national dish is a bean soup that fed armies…

galaktoboureko

The longest word on most Greek menus hides two…

γαστρονομία

gastronomía

The Greeks had a word for the art of eating well, and…

γεράνιον

geránion

The Greeks named this flower for the crane — geranos —…

γλωσσολαλία

glōssolalía

The Greek word for speaking in tongues — from glossa,…

Γόριλλαι

Górillai

A Carthaginian navigator sailed the West African coast…

γυμνάσιον

gymnasion

The Greeks exercised naked, and the place where they…

gynecology

Greek gave us the word for woman; Victorian doctors…

γύρος

gýros

The Greek word for a circle or rotation named a way of…

αἱμορραγία

haimorrhagía

The Greeks built this word from blood and bursting — a…

ἡγεμονία

hēgemonía

A Greek word for the leadership one city-state…

ἡμισφαίριον

hēmisphaírion

The Greek word for 'half a sphere' was first used by…

ἱερογλυφικά

hieroglyphiká

When Greek scholars first saw the carved signs on…

ἱπποπόταμος

hippopótamos

Greek travelers to Egypt looked at the huge,…

ὕαινα

húaina

The Greeks named the spotted predator after the hog —…

ὑάκινθος

hyákinthos

A flower that carries a death cry in its petals —…

ὑποκριτής

hypokritēs

A hypocrite was an actor on the Athenian stage —…

iconoclastic

Byzantine emperors destroyed holy images and gave…

ἰνδικόν

indikón

The Greeks named this deep blue dye simply 'the Indian…

καρυάτις

karyátis

The columns shaped like women at the Erechtheion in…

kenotaphion

A cenotaph is an empty tomb — Greek kenotaphion…

keramikos

keramikós

From the Greek word for potter's clay, 'ceramic'…

χαμαιλέων

khamailéōn

The Greeks named the color-changing lizard a 'ground…

χρυσάνθεμον

khrysánthemon

A Greek compound meaning 'golden flower' traveled from…

κιθάρα

kithara

The guitar is named after the Greek kithara, a lyre…

kleptocracy

The Greeks gave us the word for government by thieves.

klíma

The Greeks did not name weather — they named the tilt…

κολοφών

kolophōn

The colophon — the note at the end of a book…

κομήτης

komḗtēs

Greeks looked up and saw a star wearing long hair —…

kosmographía

Before there were separate departments for astronomy,…

κρόκος

krókos

A small flower with an ancient pedigree — its name…

κῦδος

kudos

Ancient Greek glory became modern English praise — and…

κυδώνιον

kydṓnion

The golden fruit that Aphrodite held in her hand was…

κυκλών

kyklōn

A Victorian meteorologist in 1848 reached back to…

Λακωνικός

Lakonikos

The Spartans were so famous for saying almost nothing…

λάρυγξ

lárynx

The Greeks named the voice box before they fully…

λεοπάρδαλις

leopárdalis

The Greeks believed the leopard was a hybrid of lion…

λεξικόν

lexikon

A lexicon is a word-book — from the Greek word for…

μάρτυς

mártys

A Greek word meaning 'witness' — someone who testifies…

meter

Surprisingly, meter began as a measure before it was…

μητρόπολις

metropolis

The mother-city that founded colonies. Now it means…

mitre

Strangely, mitre began as a band tied around the head.

μοναχός

monakhós

A Greek word meaning 'solitary' — one who lives alone…

μονοπώλιον

monopōlion

Greek economists named it four centuries before Christ…

Νάρκισσος

Narkissos

A boy who drowned staring at his own reflection gave…

νάρκισσος

nárkissos

A flower that may have been named for numbness — from…

νέκταρ

néktar

The drink of the gods that conferred immortality…

nomas

Nomads were simply those who pastured their flocks —…

ὤχρα

ōchra

The oldest named color in human history — found on…

ὀλιγαρχία

oligarkhía

A Greek word meaning 'rule by the few' has become the…

ὀξύς

oxys

The 'love hormone' was named by a British scientist…

Παιώνιον

Paiōnion

The ancient Greeks believed a flower had healed the…

πανδήμιος

pandḗmios

A Greek adjective meaning 'of all the people' — used…

πάνθηρ

pánthēr

The Greeks named the spotted great cat from a compound…

parish

Surprisingly, parish began as a word for living beside…

patriot

The word for love of country began as a demand for…

peirateia

peirateía

Piracy comes from the Greek for 'an attack' or 'an…

πεντηκοστή

pentēkostḗ

Pentecost means 'fiftieth' — the Holy Spirit descended…

πίτα

píta

The Greek word for a flatbread or pie may have arrived…

πλάσμα

plásma

Plasma was first used for the liquid part of blood in…

πλατύπους

platypous

When European scientists first saw a platypus specimen…

πρεσβύτερος

presbýteros

A Greek word meaning 'elder' — someone older and…

πρωτεῖος

proteios

Jöns Jacob Berzelius named the molecules of life in…

ψαλμός

psalmós

The word psalm means 'a plucking' — the sound of a…

ρεμπέτικο

rembétiko

A word of uncertain origin — possibly from the Turkish…

ῥινόκερως

rhinókeros

The Greeks needed only two words to describe the most…

ῥοδόδενδρον

rhododendron

Rhododendron means 'rose tree' in Greek — a name given…

ῥοδόχρωσις

rhodókhrōsis

Greek for 'rose-colored' — this pink-banded mineral…

schistos

Schist is a metamorphic rock that splits easily along…

σεισμός + γράφειν

seismos + graphein

When an earthquake struck, seismographs turned the…

σχολή

skholḗ

The Greek word for school originally meant leisure —…

σκορπίος

skorpíos

Scorpions predate every land animal alive today — they…

σμάραγδος

smáragdos

A Greek word for green stone — borrowed from ancient…

σοφός + μωρός

sophós + mōrós

A sophomore is literally a 'wise fool' — from the…

spanakopita

The spinach in spanakopita traveled from Persia before…

στάδιον

stádion

A Greek unit of distance — about 600 feet — gave its…

στῆθος + σκοπεῖν

stēthos + skopein

Before the stethoscope, physicians pressed their ears…

Stoa Poikilê

The philosophy of resilience, reason, and indifference…

συναγωγή

synagōgḗ

Before it was a building, a synagogue was an act — the…

Syria

syria

Syria's name is Assyria with its first syllable lost.

τάπης

tápēs

A Greek word for a thick carpet — possibly linked to…

θεραπεία

therapeía

The Greek word for attending to or serving — caring…

theriake

Treacle was an antidote to poisonous animal bites — a…

θύμον

thýmon

The herb may take its name from the Greek word for…

tiropita

Cheese wrapped in phyllo, a Greek pastry traced back…

tonikos

tonikós

The Greek word for tension became a medical term, then…

trapezion

Trapezoid means little table in Greek — trapeza was…

trepanned

Surgeons drilled holes in living skulls ten thousand…

τρύπανον

trypanon

The oldest surgical procedure in human history…

trýpanon

Humans have been drilling holes in each other's skulls…

xenophobia

The word that named the fear of strangers did not…

French120

alemette

alemette / omelette

The word for a folded egg dish originally meant 'thin…

allemande

The French word for 'German' became the name of a…

amuse-bouche

Before the menu begins, a small gift arrives unbidden…

anisette

The sweet anise liqueur takes its name from a tiny…

appliqué

Appliqué means 'applied' — fabric sewn onto fabric,…

baguette

A French word for a small stick — a wand, a…

baïonnette

A French city gave its name to the blade that…

bandy

Shakespeare's characters bandied words long before…

barricade

The first barricades were made of barrels -- French…

bésigue

bay-ZEEG

A 19th-century French card game that became briefly…

Belleville

A village named beautiful before it became Paris's…

bergère

The upholstered armchair with a cushioned back is…

bidet

The French named a bathroom fixture after a small…

billart

Billiards started as a lawn game — like croquet — and…

bistro

The word bistro may carry inside it a Russian…

blonde

It's the only common English adjective that changes…

braise

French cooks named their slow-cooking method after…

brûlée

A French word meaning simply 'burned' — the feminine…

bureau

A French word for a writing desk — named for the rough…

cabaret

Surprise: cabaret was a tavern before it was a show.

calumet

A sacred pipe reached English through a word that…

camouflage

The French word for blowing smoke in someone's face —…

Cap-Haïtien

cap-haitien

A French cape renamed in revolution to honor a Taíno…

chartreuse

A monastery liqueur lent its name to a color so…

chiffonnier

The elegant tall chest of drawers is named after a…

chinoiserie

Chinoiserie is Europe's eighteenth-century fantasy of…

chipolata

A sausage named for onions it no longer contains.

clique

A French word that may have begun as the sound of a…

cloisonné

From the French word for 'partitioned,' cloisonne…

corde du roi

The ribbed fabric supposedly named for the king's…

cotillon

A cotillion was originally a petticoat — the French…

croissant

A crescent moon baked into bread — the French word for…

cuisine

Cuisine comes from Latin coquina — a kitchen. The word…

débris

The French word for breaking things apart gave English…

dent de lion

French peasants looked at a common weed and saw a…

desservir

Dessert comes from the French word for 'clearing the…

dirigeable

The French word for 'steerable' was invented to…

dressage

The most demanding equestrian discipline borrows its…

duvet

Duvet is French for 'down' — the soft under-feathers…

éclair

eclair

The pastry named for lightning disappears before you…

encore

Encore — the cry that demands the performer return for…

entrepôt

A city that grows rich not by producing things but by…

épaulette

The ornamental shoulder pad of military dress uniforms…

espionnage

The French word for the organized gathering of secret…

étiquette

A small ticket or label posted in a royal garden to…

faïence

A gleaming tin-glazed earthenware named for the…

ficelle

French bakers named a bread after the string it…

fin de siècle

fin de siecle

The phrase meaning 'end of the century' became, in the…

fracas

The noisy uproar got its name from the sound of…

franc

The French franc got its name from the ransom of a…

fusilier

The French word for a soldier armed with a flintlock…

gâteau

The French word for cake carries a castle inside it —…

gaufre

The burrowing rodent that reshaped the American…

grenadier

A grenadier was a grenade-thrower — French grenadier…

grosse douzaine

A gross is 144 — twelve dozen — and it exists because…

jalousie

A jalousie is a window made of angled glass slats —…

julienne

A chef's knife technique became a proper name, and a…

Laos

laos

The silent s in Laos is a French bureaucratic error…

le jeu de la crosse

French settlers named the Indigenous game after a…

levant

The sun's daily rising gave the eastern Mediterranean…

lieu + tenant

lieu tenant

French for 'place-holder' became every army's word for…

limonade

A Persian citrus fruit crossed the Arab world, seeded…

macaron

For five centuries, a macaron was a simple almond…

maraud

A French word for a vagrant became the English word…

marron

The English word maroon — the dark brownish-red color…

matelote

A sailor's pot became France's most-copied river stew.

mayonnaise

may-oh-NAYZ

The most ubiquitous condiment in the world carries an…

meringue

Meringue is the alchemist's dream of the kitchen —…

millefeuille

One pastry stacks a thousand leaves and a century of…

narghile

A water pipe is named after a coconut. That is not a…

navarin

A lamb stew probably named for a turnip, though a…

New Orleans

New Orleans takes its name from a Roman emperor who…

or moulu

Ormolu means 'ground gold' in French — the gold was…

palissade

The wooden fence that protected every frontier fort in…

palmier

The palmier is a palm tree pressed flat and baked into…

parterre

The parterre — a formal garden of geometric beds seen…

peloton

A platoon was a 'small ball' of soldiers — from the…

petite

French has one word for anything small—a meal, a…

pinace

The small boat that carried conquistadors to shore,…

plateau

French for a flat plate — the same word that holds…

potpourri

pot pourri

Literally 'rotten pot'—a jar of decomposing flowers…

pouf

The round, cushioned seat that has no legs, no back,…

Praslin

A French marshal's cook accidentally dropped almonds…

queue

French for tail, English for waiting: one word crossed…

ragoût

To restore the appetite, to revive the taste — the…

ratafia

A Caribbean laborer's rum crossed the Atlantic and…

ratatouille

A Provençal peasant dish of stewed summer vegetables…

récamier

The backless daybed is named after a woman who was…

reconnaissance

The military term for scouting enemy positions is…

réduit

A redoubt was the last position a garrison would…

religieuse

A French pastry was named for a nun, and the…

rémoulade

remoulade

A sauce whose name most likely derives from a word for…

renaissance

Renaissance means 'rebirth' — the French named an…

restaurant

Before it was a place to eat, a restaurant was a thing…

rouge

The French word for 'red' became English slang for red…

rouille

The rust-red sauce that holds bouillabaisse together.

saboteur

The person in wooden shoes who wrecks the machinery —…

sapeur

The word for a military engineer comes from the French…

sauter

The French word for jumping gave its name to the…

savant

A learned person. The term 'idiot savant' paired…

savarin

Nineteen years after Brillat-Savarin died, Paris…

sémaphore

A Greek compound meaning 'sign-bearer' named a system…

Seychelles

seychelles

A French finance minister lent his name to 115 islands…

chaudière

shoh-DYAIR

New England's great seafood soup is named not for any…

soirée

A soirée is just the French word for 'evening' — but…

solitaire

SOL-ih-tair

A word meaning 'alone' that names a dozen different…

St. Louis

A French king dead five centuries gave this…

syllabary

Surprisingly, syllabary was named in 1876 to map whole…

toile

The French word simply means 'cloth' — yet in English…

toilette

The word toilet originally meant a small piece of…

toque

The tall white hat that announces a chef across a…

touché

touche

A fencer's call for a hit became English's sharpest…

Tremé

treme

A French hatmaker's name became the oldest African…

trompe-l'oeil

The phrase means 'deceives the eye,' and for three…

tuyère

The nozzle that feeds the forge its breath — an…

Vandalisme

Vandalism was named for a Germanic tribe that may…

vélocipède

The French word for 'fast foot' named every…

vélodrome

The word for a cycling arena combines the Latin for…

voile

The French word for sail names a fabric so sheer and…

gigue

ZHEEG

The frenzied finale of the baroque suite was…

Arabic118

abwab

Colonial India had a word for taxes the law did not…

البرقوق

al-barqūq

The apricot made a grand circular journey: probably…

al-fisfisa

Alfalfa is the world's most cultivated forage crop —…

al-ghattas

Arab sailors named the diving bird; Portuguese mangled…

الجبر

al-jabr

A word for setting broken bones became the mathematics…

الخرشوف

al-kharshūf

The vegetable on the dinner plate traveled from Arab…

Mosul

al-Mawṣil

A city in what is now Iraq — Mosul — gave its name to…

al-qasr

Every palace called an Alcázar in Spain carries an…

alizarine

alizarin

The brilliant red pigment that dyed the robes of…

almas

Diamond's Arabic name still outlives its Greek and…

almucantar

Medieval Arab astronomers drew invisible circles above…

aludel

Medieval alchemists called their sublimation vessel by…

amīr

Amir means commander in Arabic — and it gave English…

araq

araq / arak

The anise-flavored spirit that is Turkey's national…

السَّمْت

as-samt

Azimuth — the compass direction of a celestial object…

Bahrain

An island named for two seas, one of them flowing…

barracan

A cloth crossed from Persian bazaars to English cloaks…

buzuq

A lute called broken produces the most precisely…

قصبة

casbah

A fortress word was repackaged as exotic nightlife in…

Comoros

comoros

The moon named these islands, a thousand years before…

daraba

To drub someone means to beat them thoroughly — and…

داو

dāw

The lateen-sailed wooden vessel that stitched together…

esfiha

A flat Arabic meat pie crossed the Atlantic and became…

فلافل

falāfil

A humble chickpea fritter born somewhere in the…

faqīr

Fakir means a poor person in Arabic — but became the…

فاس

Fās

A hat named for a Moroccan city it may not have even…

fattoush

Yesterday's stale bread becomes today's most vivid…

فلاحين

fellāḥīn

They built the pyramids' food supply, fed the Roman…

freekeh

Green wheat takes its name from the act of rubbing it.

fustānī

A thick cotton-linen cloth whose name may trace to a…

gerbil

A Saharan Arabic word for desert rats became the name…

غرافة

gharrafa

Arab glassmakers ladled molten glass into elegant…

غزال

ghazāl

The Arabic word for the swift, graceful antelope of…

Gibraltar

gibraltar

A Berber general's name became English shorthand for…

haboob

ha-BOOB

The Sudanese Arabic word for a convective dust storm…

hadith

A single spoken report became the second scripture of…

hafiz

A guardian of memory, the hafiz carries the Quran…

haleem

A stew named for patience has been cooking since the…

حلوى

halwa

A word for sweetness conquered kitchens from Cairo to…

حمّام

ḥammām

The hammam — the Islamic bathhouse — was inherited…

حَمَّام

ḥammām

The bathhouse that preserved Roman bathing culture…

harira

Morocco's Ramadan soup takes its name from the Arabic…

هَرِيسَة

harissa

Tunisia's fire paste carries a name that means nothing…

حشيش

hashish

Grass gave English a drug word, and the plant was…

imam

Surprisingly, imam first meant simply one who stands…

أمارة

imāra

Before it was an airline or a country, emirate was…

Iraq

iraq

The name Iraq may be as old as civilization itself.

jar

jarrah

The humble jar — the vessel in every kitchen,…

jerboa

A desert rodent hopped into English through Latin…

جِرْذ

jird

English took a desert rodent straight from Arabic and…

جلاب

julāb

Arab physicians mixed rose water with medicinal drugs…

كبابة

kabāba

Cubeb pepper was so popular in medieval Europe that…

كراويا

karāwiyā

The seed in your rye bread was named in Arabic, grown…

خليفة

khalifa

The Arabic word for successor built empires across…

khalīfa

The caliphate lasted 1,300 years — from 632 CE to…

khamsin

Egypt named its most feared wind after the number…

خنجر

khanjar

A dagger's name traveled farther than many empires…

خریف

kharīf

Half of South Asia's food grows in a season whose name…

خبز

khubz

The Arabic word for bread — round, wood-fired,…

khutbah

Friday prayer without this sermon is legally…

knafeh

A thousand-year-old cheese dessert whose name…

labneh

Lebanon's name and its most beloved fresh cheese share…

līmah

The lime traveled from Southeast Asia to the Middle…

لُبَان

lubān

A resin so precious that the ancient world called it…

لُبَان جَاوِي

luban jawi

An aromatic resin from Sumatra whose Arabic name means…

lūfa

The loofah sponge is not a sea creature — it is a…

mahdi

The Arabic passive for guided became the most…

مجلس

majlis

The Arabic word for 'sitting together' named both the…

manqala

Mancala — the pit-and-stone counting game played…

maravedí

maravedi

Spain's penny traces its name to a Saharan warrior…

مرزبان

marzaban

A medieval Arabic coin — or perhaps a seated king —…

مَسْجِد

masjid

The Arabic word for a mosque means simply 'a place of…

مُفْتٍ

muftī

The Islamic jurist became British slang for civilian…

mukhayyar

An Arabic word meaning 'choice' or 'select' described…

murabba

The Arabic word for nurturing became South Asia's most…

مسقعة

musaqqaʿa

An Arabic word meaning 'that which has been chilled' —…

musnud

The musnud was not just a cushion; it was the seat of…

Oman

oman

Oman carried its name long before Arabia had a map.

open sesame

A sesame plant's bursting seed pod became the world's…

قَاضٍ

qāḍī

The Islamic judge who interpreted divine law sat at…

qarrāqa

The ship that carried Columbus's supplies, carried…

قصيدة

qaṣīda

Before the novel, before the press release, before the…

قيراط

qīrāṭ

Gem dealers weighed diamonds against carob seeds,…

قرمز

qirmiz

The richest red in medieval painting was born from…

qirmiz

Arab traders sold the tiny insects that produced red…

قرمز

qirmiz

The most expensive red in the medieval world came from…

قطن

quṭn

The fabric that built the modern world—and the word…

racahout

A powdered Algerian drink that Victorian England…

rāḥat al-yad

rahat al-yad

The Arabic phrase for 'palm of the hand' — the…

ras el hanout

ras-el-hanout

The name means head of the shop: a spice merchant's…

رَباب

rebab

A horsehair bow carried an Arabic word across half the…

رياض

riyāḍ

The Arabic word for garden — a paradise enclosed…

ream

rizmah

Every time you buy a ream of paper — five hundred…

risk

rizq

The word that defines insurance, finance, and decision…

سَمَاع

samāʿ

Listening to music was once a theological controversy…

سمت الرأس

samt al-ra's

Arab astronomers looked straight up and named that…

samūm

The simoom is a hot, dry, dust-laden wind that kills —…

شراب

sharāb

The Arabic word for 'drink' became an English word for…

شراب

sharāb

The Arabic word for 'drink' became the English word…

شيخ

shaykh

The Arabic word for 'old man' became a title for…

siqlatun

A luxurious Eastern cloth — its name untranslatable,…

Sudan

Sudan is the Arabic plural of black, stretched across…

صفة

suffa

A raised platform in a mosque became the centerpiece…

صوفي

ṣūfī

A Sufi may be named after wool — Arabic suf means…

سلطان

sultan

Power itself became a title before it became a man.

sultanate

Arabic for power itself became the word for every…

تعريفة

ta'rīfa

An Arabic word for notification became how nations…

تَبُّولَة

tabbouleh

The world's most parsley-forward salad has a name that…

tamr hindī

Tamarind's name means 'Indian date' in Arabic—the…

tare

tarha

The scientific term for the weight of a container…

UAE

Three letters carry five centuries of Arabic grammar…

وادي

wadi

A wadi is a river that is usually not there -- a…

za'farān

The world's most expensive spice—worth more than gold…

زفر

zafar

The deep blue of Delft pottery, Chinese porcelain, and…

زرافة

zarāfa

Medieval Europeans thought it was half-camel,…

عرق

ʿaraq

The Arabic word for sweat named a distilled spirit —…

عطر

ʿiṭr

Attar of roses — the concentrated essential oil…

عود

ʿūd

The ancestor of the European lute carries its own…

English99

ackers

British soldiers in the Middle East came home with a…

airport

Before planes existed, the word port meant only…

allspice

Allspice is not a blend of spices — it is a single…

Badminton

Badminton is a country house in Gloucestershire — the…

balti

A Birmingham curry carries a mountain name, or maybe a…

blastogeny

Strangely, blastogeny is birth by budding.

blastophyly

Unexpectedly, blastophyly is kinship traced through…

blazer

The blazer jacket is named for a ship — specifically,…

bogey

A bogey in golf is one stroke over par, but the word…

broadside

BRAWD-syd

A single large sheet printed on one side was the…

breastwork

A breastwork is a wall that comes up to your chest —…

brunch

A journalist coined this word in 1895 as a mercy for…

Burma

burma

Burma is Myanmar spoken aloud by someone in a hurry.

castella

An English food word that is secretly a castle, a…

chad

The name for a punched-out paper disc has an etymology…

Charleston

CHARLZ-tun

The dance that defined the Jazz Age takes its name…

chowdering

New England turned a French cauldron into a verb for…

cisgender

A Latin geographical prefix waited two thousand years…

clanker

Clanker named the sound of iron chains a century…

clap-trap

Theater managers in the 1700s planted cheap tricks in…

clip

The fastest sailing ships ever built were named for a…

commonwealth

Commonwealth is a 15th-century English translation of…

crumpet

Pocked with holes by design — the British crumpet's…

dhole

An Indian wild dog entered English with an origin…

dis

Surprisingly, dis is a clipped insult born in rap-era…

doldrums

DOHL-drumz

The equatorial belt of calms that trapped sailing…

drawknife

Most cutting tools push the blade away from the body.…

ecosystem

A British botanist invented this word in 1935 to save…

eeny

A shepherd's tally mark from pre-Roman Britain…

emblic

An Indian fruit reached English wearing a French coat…

executress

Surprisingly, executress is a legal title shaped by…

expat

The word says nothing about where you are, only that…

fanny

A proper name for a woman became, through one…

flag + ship

The admiral's ship flew a distinguishing flag so the…

flint + lock

flintlock

The firing mechanism that dominated warfare for two…

Fort Worth

A soldier who died before arrival gave his name to a…

frow

A froe does not cut wood. It splits it along the…

God be with ye

Every time you say goodbye, you are compressing a…

great coat

A greatcoat was great only in the sense of large — it…

guys

A failed conspirator's first name became the word for…

herringbone

The herringbone pattern — a V-shaped zigzag used in…

heyda

The word for the peak of something's power began as an…

homestay

Born in jet-age diplomacy, homestay replaced the…

honeybush

Honeybush flowers smell of honey though the plant has…

hundredweight

A hundredweight is not a hundred of anything — it is…

Indonesian

A 19th-century Scottish lawyer stitched a nation's…

Jedi

jedi

George Lucas borrowed a word from Japanese cinema to…

jiffy

Thieves invented this word before scientists borrowed…

jingo

An entire political ideology was named after a music…

kersey

A rough woolen cloth named after a Suffolk village…

kettlebell

The kettlebell began as a grain merchant's…

kid + nap

kidnap

Kidnapping originally meant stealing children to work…

kidnapped

Seventeenth-century slavers invented a word that stuck…

knackered

A horse-slaughterhouse gave English its most visceral…

knockout

The knockout blow in boxing — and the knockout format…

knot-garden

The Elizabethan knot garden was a bed of herbs clipped…

cribbage

KRIB-ij

The only major card game widely credited to a single…

kurbash

A whip crossed empires and became shorthand for…

ladyfingers

Victorian kitchens renamed a Savoyard court biscuit…

logwood

The tree that dyed the world's navies black was so…

lorry

Britain's everyday truck has an origin nobody can…

marline

The fish may be named after a nautical rope — a…

Mary's gold

A flower named for the Virgin Mary — Mary's gold —…

matchlock

The matchlock was the first successful infantry…

moonrat

Named for its ghost-white coat, this creature of…

mythic

Surprisingly, mythic began as a label for spoken tale.

New York

New York received its name months before England…

newspaper

A compound born in the 1660s, joining fresh news to…

Nigeria

nigeria

A newspaper editor invented a country's name in 1897…

papoose

An Algonquian child-word shrank into English baby talk…

privateer

A privateer was a pirate with a permission slip — a…

quag + mire

Two words for wet ground were smashed together in the…

racist

Coined to name and discredit a doctrine, it outlived…

ram + rod

ramrod

The stick used to push a musket ball down a gun barrel…

seafood

Before 1836, English had no word that grouped fish and…

sermon

Plain talk became a sacred address.

settee

The settee — an upholstered seat for two or three —…

shoebill

A five-foot bird with a bill shaped like a Dutch clog…

simmer

An English word that imitates the soft, murmuring…

sky scraper

skyscraper

Started as a nautical insult for a tall, wobbly sail…

smog

The word is a portmanteau of 'smoke' and 'fog,' coined…

snipe

The deadliest role in modern warfare is named after a…

snooze

For two centuries, no one has agreed where this…

squeegee

A sailor's deck tool named after squeezing now cleans…

subroutine

A subroutine is a named, reusable piece of code — and…

sunbird

A tropical jewel got a plain English name.

sundog

The bright spots that appear on either side of the sun…

swash + buckler

A swashbuckler was originally an insult — a braggart…

tallboy

The word for a tall chest of drawers was originally a…

the blue devils

A seventeenth-century English phrase for demons of…

ticking

The striped fabric inside your mattress has a name…

trade (Middle English: path) + wind

trade wind

Trade winds have nothing to do with trade. The word…

trade winds

The 'trade' in trade winds has nothing to do with…

turnover

A word about flipping things upside down became the…

welsh

A verb that means to skip out on a debt and carries an…

Williams

williams

A Berkshire schoolmaster bred a pear that a nurseryman…

whist

wist

The card game that trained the English-speaking world…

yardarm

The end of the horizontal beam that holds a square…

yippee

The most undignified word in English started as a…

Old French80

artillerie

Before it meant cannons, artillery meant any military…

avenge

Vengeance began as a lawsuit, not a blood feud.

Avery

The name of an elf-king that crossed the Channel and…

baril

A French word of uncertain origin — possibly from a…

blanc mangier

bla-MAHNZH

A medieval dish called 'white food' began as a savory…

bœuf

English farmers raised cows — but the meat on a Norman…

boie

A French word for a chain or fetter — something that…

boissel

A bushel is about eight gallons of dry goods, and the…

bonet

A bonnet was a man's hat before it was a woman's — and…

boudin

Blood thickened with onions and spice, the oldest…

bougette

A budget was a small leather bag — the Chancellor's…

broche

Brooch and broach are the same word — one pins cloth…

burel

A bureau was a coarse woolen cloth — the fabric that…

chanson

The French word for song carried a whole literary…

cheque

A chessboard helped England invent modern banking.

closet

The closet was first a private room for prayer, not…

clou (de girofle)

clou de girofle

The French saw tiny dried flower buds arriving from…

coronete

A coronet is not a crown — and in the British peerage,…

coutelace

The cutlass was the sailor's sword — short, sturdy,…

couvre-feu

A curfew was an order to cover your fire — medieval…

coverte

In hunting, a covert is the thicket where game takes…

discover

Discover once meant to remove a cover, not to find…

embusche

An ambush hides in the bushes -- literally. Old French…

empire

Curiously, empire began as command before it meant…

entrencher

The military act of digging a protective ditch became…

escadafaut

The Old French word for a raised platform — where…

escheker

Checkers (called draughts in British English) takes…

esclate

Before paper was cheap, schoolchildren wrote on slate…

escluse

A Latin word for shutting out became the gate that…

escuier

The Old French word for a shield-bearer — escuier,…

esturgeon

The fish that produces caviar has a name that may come…

estuver

The word 'stew' originally meant a steam bath — and…

fleur

Flour and flower were the same word until the 1830s —…

fresche

A French word for freshness became the English name…

fustique

A Caribbean tree that produces brilliant yellow dye…

gaffe

The spar that holds up a sail and the hook that lands…

garison

A garrison was not soldiers but safety itself — from a…

grieve

A Latin word for stone-weight became the English name…

grille

A Latin word for a lattice of woven bars — a…

hairon

The heron's name traveled from Germanic to French and…

hermine

The word for the most regal fur in European history…

jazerant

Medieval knights wore hidden metal armor whose name…

lancette

Medieval surgeons named their small surgical blade…

levier

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to…

lignage

Lineage is the thread of line — Old French lignage…

maladie

An illness named for bad habit — because medieval…

mareschal

The marshal began in the stable — Frankish marhskalk…

marmouset

The smallest monkeys in the world are named after ugly…

moneie

The word money traces back to the Roman goddess Juno…

mort gage

The word for your home loan literally means 'death…

moton

The English shepherd called the animal a sheep. The…

onion

Romans named the onion after unity because it grows as…

parbouillir

A word that originally meant 'to boil thoroughly' —…

pardonner

The French word for the most sovereign act a ruler…

passeport

A passport originally had nothing to do with personal…

patois

A word that originally meant 'rough speech' — possibly…

peautere

Pewter is an alloy of tin with small amounts of…

pendant

The jewelry that hangs from your neck is named by the…

pillage

The word for violent looting comes from a word that…

pinte

An American pint of beer is nearly a hundred…

porc

The Anglo-Saxon swineherd called the animal a pig. The…

porc-espin

Old French called it a 'spine-pig,' which was accurate…

porte coleice

The sliding gate that dropped behind the drawbridge…

potage

Pottage lost its 't' and gained an 'r' somewhere in…

prisun

The word prison comes from Latin prehensio — the act…

rempart

Most English speakers first meet the word ramparts in…

rifle

A scratch in iron launched the era of accurate killing.

rostir

A Frankish word for the iron grid on which meat was…

Somerville

somerville

Captain Richard Somers died at Tripoli in 1804, and…

soudier

A person defined not by courage or duty but by the…

soverain

From Latin super — 'above' — came the French word for…

summit

A diminutive French word for little top now crowns…

surcharging

Surcharging has loaded English bills, coats of arms,…

suzerain

The lord who sat above was named for the directional…

trahiner

A French word meaning to drag or pull — from Latin…

travail

The English word for a pleasant holiday comes from a…

trousse

A truss is a bundle — and the word reveals how…

Tyson

tyson

The name Tyson carries a Norman ember: it means…

vinaigre

The French looked at their ruined wine and named what…

jaiet

zhah-YET

The intensely black gem that the Victorians made into…

Ancient Greek72

Aeneas

The Trojan refugee who escaped burning Troy to found…

ἄκανθος

ákanthos

A thorny Mediterranean weed inspired the most famous…

Ἀμαζών

Amazōn

A mythological nation of warrior women gave their name…

amenorrhoea

Strangely, it names absence by naming the month.

ἀμνησία

amnēsia

The word for forgetting is built on a Greek root that…

amphibian

A creature whose very name announces it lives between…

ἀμφιθέατρον

amphithéatron

The Greek word for 'theater on both sides' named the…

anthropic

A Greek word for human became cosmology's principle…

Ἀφροδίτη

Aphrodítē

The Greeks said she was born from sea-foam, but her…

ἀποθέωσις

apothéōsis

The Romans had a word for turning a dead emperor into…

Ἄτλας

Átlas

Atlas carried the sky on his shoulders for eternity —…

βασιλική

basilikē

A royal hall for merchants and magistrates became the…

βασιλίσκος

basiliskos

The 'little king' of serpents—a creature whose gaze…

βίσων

bisōn

The Greeks borrowed a Germanic word for the European…

búfalos

A Greek word for a kind of ox, borrowed by Latin,…

χρυσαλλίς

chrysallís

The protective casing in which a caterpillar…

διάλυσις

dialysis

The Greek word for dissolution and separation entered…

διασπορά

diasporá

The word means 'scattering of seeds' — and was first…

διατριβή

diatribē

A diatribe was not always an angry rant — it began as…

διορίζω

diorízō

The Greeks named this dark, speckled rock after the…

δραχμή

drachmē

The Greek word for money meant a handful —…

Ecclesiastes

ecclesiastes

A Greek word for assembly caller became the title of…

Eritrea

Eritrea is Greek for red: an Italian colonial name…

γαλήνη

galḗnē

The Greeks named lead ore after calmness—the tranquil,…

γεωγραφία

geographia

The Greeks did not merely explore the earth — they…

ἑβδομάς

hebdomas

The Greeks had a word for 'a group of seven' that…

Ἡρακλῆς

Hēraklês

The strongest man in mythology was named 'Glory of…

heretic

Surprisingly, heretic began as a word for choosing.

hippocampus

The Greeks imagined a creature that was half horse and…

ὕβρις

hybris

The Greeks knew: excessive pride summons its own…

Iliad

Homer named his poem after the city, not the war or…

ἰσθμός

isthmos

A narrow neck of land connecting two larger bodies —…

κατάφρακτος

katáphraktos

The word for a fully armored horseman comes from a…

κρυπτικός

kryptikos

Hidden. Buried. The same word that gives us crypts and…

Libya

The Libu were a Berber people long before they named a…

λιτότης

litotes

Saying 'not bad' when you mean 'excellent' — the…

λύγξ

lynx

The Greeks named this cat after light — its eyes were…

μεταμόρφωσις

metamórphōsis

The word for biological transformation was ancient…

μίασμα

míasma

For two thousand years, doctors and governments…

Μουσεῖον

Mouseion

A temple to the Muses — nine goddesses of artistic and…

myriarch

The man who commanded ten thousand soldiers had one…

μύρτος

myrtos

Aphrodite's sacred plant. The Greeks wove it into…

Nicholas

nicholas

A Greek compound meaning 'victory of the people'…

νοῦς

NOOS

The ancient Greek term for pure intelligence — the…

ὀβελίσκος

obelískos

An obelisk is a diminutive — the Greeks called it a…

οἶκος

oikos

The Greek word for 'household' is the ancestor of both…

Ὀλυμπιάς

Olympias

Before the modern world settled on numbering years…

ὄστρεον

ostreon

The Greek word for oyster is related to the word for…

πανηγυρικός

panegyrikos

The Greek word meant 'speech for a public assembly' —…

πάπυρος

pápyros

An Egyptian reed lent its name to every writing…

παράδειγμα

parádeigma

A 'paradigm shift' sounds like modern jargon, but the…

peplos

The flared ruffle at the hip of a jacket or dress—a…

περιφέρεια

periphéreia

Periphery began as the Greek word for the…

philology

Surprisingly, philology first meant love of learned…

φλεγματικός

phlegmatikós

The word for a calm, unflappable temperament comes…

πολύχρωμος

polýkhrōmos

The Greek word for 'many colors' named the…

pseudo

A Greek philosopher's word for lying became English's…

ψυχή

psykhē

The word for the mind, the soul, and the discipline…

Pyrrhic

pyrrhic

One king's name became the word for victories too…

Reggio Calabria

Greeks named this city for the violent breaking of the…

sceptical

Pyrrho's followers named themselves after the act of…

σίνδων

sindon

A cloth word crossed empires before cotton conquered…

σπόγγος

spongos

Sponges are the oldest animals on earth — over 600…

συκόμορος

sykomoros

The Greek word means 'fig-mulberry' and referred to an…

σύναψις

sýnapsis

The tiny gap between neurons — the junction across…

τάλαντον

tálanton

A unit of weight became a unit of currency became a…

θησαυρός

thēsauros

The Greek word for treasure originally meant a…

θησαυρός

thēsaurós

A thesaurus is a treasure chest — the Greeks used the…

θρόνος

thrónos

The most powerful seat in the world is named with the…

τοπογραφία

topographia

Where geography writes the whole earth, topography…

τρόπαιον

trópaion

After routing the enemy, Greeks hung captured armor on…

τροπικός

tropikos

The tropics are named for a turning. The Greek…

Italian67

albarello

Apothecaries gripped this waisted jar by its narrow…

allegrissimo

The superlative of lively — as fast and bright as…

andante

The word that tells musicians to walk — andante…

anolini

Piacenza's tiny stuffed rings have been served in…

aria

The Italian word for air — the stuff you breathe —…

baldacchino

The canopy over the altar in St. Peter's Basilica is…

bolognese

The meat sauce that half the world calls 'bolognese'…

brigantino

A two-masted ship was named for the brigands who used…

broccolo

The Italians named it for what it looked like —…

bronzo

Nobody knows where the word 'bronze' comes from —…

bruschetta

Before it became a restaurant appetizer topped with…

burlesco

The Italian word for a joke — a literary parody that…

caciotta

Italy's smallest cheese carries a Latin diminutive a…

campanile

The Italian word for a bell tower contains within it…

cantabile

A single word that contains an entire philosophy of…

cantina

The water bottle in your backpack and the cafeteria on…

carbonara

Nobody knows who invented carbonara. The name means…

cartone

A cartoon was originally a full-size preparatory…

cavalcata

cavalcāta

An Italian word for a parade of horses galloped into…

cavaliere

The Italian word for a horseman became a royalist…

cecina

A Latin word for dryness passed through Spain and into…

centerba

One contracted word hides a hundred herbs and Italy's…

cittadella

A citadel is a little city -- Italian cittadella is…

colonnello

Colonel is spelled with an 'l' because it came from…

con brio

The instruction to play 'with brio' — with verve,…

con fuoco

The musical instruction 'with fire' traces its heat…

conchiglie

Conchiglie are shell-shaped pasta carrying a word…

contrapposto

The pose that made sculpture look alive — one hip…

cornetto

The cornet's name means 'little horn' — and the…

dupioni

doo-pee-OH-nee

The most irregularly lustrous of all silks comes from…

duetto

Italian musicians took the Latin word for two,…

farro

Roman soldiers marched on this grain for five…

fregata

A Mediterranean word of uncertain origin — perhaps…

gambetto

The chess opening where you sacrifice a pawn is named…

gelateria

An Italian shop name carries two thousand years of…

gnocchi

The little lumps of potato dough whose name might mean…

gorgonzola

Gorgonzola is a Lombardy town whose cheese became more…

impresario

The person who undertakes the risk of staging art —…

infanteria

Infantry literally means 'the children' — soldiers too…

intavolatura

The horizontal band sitting atop a column — frieze,…

loggia

A loggia is a roofed gallery open on one or more sides…

lungo

A single Italian adjective for long stretched the…

maiolica

Majolica — named for the island of Majorca through…

marcato

An Italian word meaning 'marked' or 'hammered' — from…

mezzana

The aftermost mast on a sailing ship takes its name…

moschetto

Italian soldiers named their new firearm after a…

Negroni

negroni

A Florentine count asked for gin instead of soda water…

nocino

Green walnuts picked on Midsummer Eve age six months…

pandoro

Bread of gold: two Latin words became Verona's…

partigiano

A partisan is someone who takes a part — Italian…

pecorino

Every wheel of pecorino is named for the sheep that…

piazza

The Romans paved wide roads and the Greeks built open…

portafoglio

The Italian word for 'carry-leaf' described a case for…

portolano

The medieval sailing charts that guided ships from one…

prati

Rome built its most elegant bourgeois quarter on land…

presto

The fastest of the standard Italian tempo markings…

provolone

A southern Italian cheese named not for its flavor but…

riviera

The Italian word for coastline became a proper noun so…

saltarello

The saltarello — Italian for 'little jump' — is one of…

sambuca

An Italian liqueur carries a name that once belonged…

soppressata

A pressed salami named for exactly what happened to it.

tarantola

The tarantula was named after a town in Italy whose…

Testaccio

testaccio

An entire neighborhood in Rome is named after a hill…

veduta

Eighteenth-century tourists on the Grand Tour needed…

vermicelli

The delicate pasta's name means 'little worms'—because…

zabaione

An egg custard with a disputed etymology and three…

zampone

The stuffed pig's foot from Modena may owe its…

Malay65

adat

The Malay world had a name for law before any colonial…

agar-agar

A laboratory staple began as seaweed jelly in island…

alamak

A Malay cry of dismay fusing the name of God with the…

amuk

When someone 'runs amok,' they're doing something the…

atap

attap

A roof became a word. Colonial English kept the roof…

babirusa

Its name says pig-deer. It is neither.

barang

One of Southeast Asia's most ordinary words simply…

belacan

One of Southeast Asia's strongest smells became an…

belanja

The Malay word for shopping carries a Sanskrit…

bibingka

A Malay rice cake crossed the trade routes of maritime…

binturong

One rainforest mammal reached English with a name…

Brunei

brunei

A Sanskrit ocean god's name outlasted the empire that…

kati

caddy / kati

The tea caddy — the little box that holds the tea…

candareen

A tenth of a mace, the candareen weighed treasure in…

cendol

Surprisingly, cendol began as the green strands, not…

damar

dammar

A tree resin gave English two m's for no good reason.

duri

durian

The king of fruits — banned from hotels, beloved by…

duyung

The shy, slow-moving sea mammal that may have inspired…

gambier

gambir

The astringent plant extract that once formed a…

genggang

The striped fabric that became picnic tablecloths —…

gutta-percha

getah perca

The rubbery sap of a tropical tree became the…

gudang

The Southeast Asian warehouse that British merchants…

hantu

The Malay world is populated by a taxonomy of spirits…

ikat

Before the loom is even dressed, the threads are…

jalan-jalan

A road walked twice becomes something less purposeful,…

kakatua

The crested parrot whose name imitates its call.

compound

kampong

The English word compound, meaning a fenced enclosure…

kampung

The Malay word for 'village' gave English 'compound' —…

kerbau

The Malay name for the water buffalo carries five…

ketupat

A woven rice cake became a sermon you can eat.

kuih

Bite-sized sweets carrying a thousand years of Fujian…

cootie

kutu

The childhood playground insult and the World War I…

launch

lanchar

The English word for a large open boat — the launch…

latah

A sudden noise and the body takes over — the Malay…

lemang

Rice in bamboo is older than the states that claim it.

luri

A parrot that drinks nectar instead of cracking seeds…

makan

In maritime Southeast Asia, to eat became a social…

manggis

Queen Victoria reportedly offered a reward to anyone…

Mata Hari

mata hari

Before it became a byword for seductive espionage,…

nasi

Half a billion people use this word every day to mean…

nipah

nipa

Nipa is the Malay name for the mangrove palm whose…

pandan

The fragrant leaf that flavors Southeast Asian sweets…

pantoum

A Malay village poem conquered French salons two…

parang

The heavy chopping blade used throughout Southeast…

penghulu

The Malay word for headman — the chosen leader of a…

petai

Southeast Asia's most polarizing ingredient is a…

prahu

The Malay outrigger vessel that crossed the Pacific…

prahu

proa / prahu

The proa is a Malay outrigger sailing vessel so fast…

rakyat

A word for the people that began as a word for a flock.

rambutan

Rambutan — 'the hairy one' — is the Malay name for a…

rotan

The cane that furnished colonial homes kept its Malay…

rujak

Rujak dresses raw fruit in fire and dark sweetness and…

sagu

The palm starch that fed Southeast Asia — named in…

santan

The liquid squeezed from grated coconut built the…

sarung

One rectangle of cloth, wrapped a thousand different…

siamang

One of the loudest apes on earth keeps a local…

silat

The martial art of the Malay world has been practiced…

surau

The small Malay prayer house is not a mosque — it is…

tahil

tael

A Malay weight became Chinese money in English ledgers.

takraw

A woven ball gave half its name to an international…

terasi

Terasi smells like low tide until heat transforms it…

tincal

Raw borax traveled from Tibet to London under one…

tongkang

Before container ships, the flat-bottomed tongkang…

teripang

trepang

A sea cucumber paid for one of Australia's oldest…

upas

The upas tree of Java was once believed to kill every…

Nahuatl59

achiotl

The lipstick tree produces seeds coated in a vivid…

ahuacamolli

Avocado sauce became Super Bowl essential—the Aztec…

ātlātl

Before the bow and arrow reached the Americas, hunters…

atole

One of the oldest American drinks is named with almost…

axolotl

āxōlōtl

The Aztecs named a creature that refuses to grow up —…

Aztec

aztec

The people of Tenochtitlan called themselves Mexica;…

cacahuatl

A Nahuatl word for the bitter cacao bean — mangled…

tlacomiztli

cacomistle

An animal with a thief's face still carries an Aztec…

calpulli

The Aztec Empire wasn't ruled by the king alone—it was…

camote

The Aztec word for sweet potato crossed the Pacific on…

chachalaca

A Nahuatl bird name built entirely from the sound the…

chayote

This wrinkled squash crossed an empire and kept almost…

chian

chia

A tiny seed crossed from tribute ledgers to wellness…

chictli

chicle

Modern chewing gum began as tree latex with a Nahua…

chilaquiles

Mexico's most beloved breakfast survived conquest,…

chilli

chili

The pepper that burns is named with a Nahuatl word —…

chilpoctli

The Aztecs smoke-dried their chilies for…

chinampa

The Aztecs grew an entire empire's food supply on…

comalli

The griddle used across Mesoamerica to cook tortillas…

conepatl

A Nahuatl skunk word outlived empires to become a…

copalli

The sacred resin that burned in Aztec temples during…

coyotl

The trickster of Aztec mythology became America's most…

elote

A street snack name still carries an empire older than…

epazotl

A pungent herb that smells simultaneously of gasoline,…

esquites

Aztec market vendors sold toasted ízquitl centuries…

guajolota

Mexico City puts a tamale inside a bread roll and…

Guatemala

guatemala

Guatemala's name is Nahuatl, given by Mexican warriors…

Guatemala City

A Nahuatl phrase about trees became the name of a…

guachin

hoatzin

A bird of the Amazon carries a name that probably…

huipilli

The most important garment in Mesoamerican women's…

xacalli

jacal

A humble mud hut crossed empires and kept its walls.

jícama

jicama

A root from central Mexico renamed itself in global…

jocote

A Nahuatl word for sour fruit that narrowed to one…

cacahuatl

kakawatl

The bitter drink of Aztec gods became the world's…

mexcalli

The Aztecs roasted agave hearts and called them cooked…

Mexico City

The Aztec name for their island capital may mean the…

milpan

For three thousand years, Mesoamerican farmers grew…

nāhualli

nahual

A word for hidden transformation survived the empire…

nextamalli

nixtamal

Corn treated with lime becomes something corn alone…

nopalli

The prickly pear cactus that became the symbol of…

ocelotl

Aztec jaguar warriors wore its spotted skin into…

peyōtl

peyote

A desert cactus became a courtroom word and a…

pipian

Ground pumpkin seeds built a sauce that predates metal…

poliuhqui

The fermented sap of the maguey cactus was the sacred…

pozolli

The most sacred Aztec ritual food was a corn hominy…

quetzalli

The iridescent green bird whose tail feathers were…

sapote

A soft tropical fruit reached English wearing a…

sotol

A desert plant became Chihuahua's answer to tequila…

tamalli

Wrapped in corn husks and steamed since ancient…

tejate

This drink looks like foam and tastes like an older…

tejuino

Fermented corn has been Jalisco's street drink since…

temazcalli

Aztec sweat baths have been healing people for…

teōcalli

teocalli

The Aztec temple English remembers is really just a…

tepache

Mexico's oldest fermented drink is made from the part…

Tequila

Tequila is a city before it is a drink—a Nahuatl place…

tinga

A shredded-meat dish from Mexico City whose name has…

tlacuache

The Nahuatl name for the opossum calls it the little…

ōllamaliztli

ulama

A precolonial ballgame word still lives in northwest…

zacahuil

The world's largest tamale has been feeding the…

Persian54

achaar

A word that traveled from Persian courts to every…

Afghanistan

afghanistan

A Sanskrit word for horsemen lies at the root of the…

اندرون

anderun

Anderun named the half of every Persian house that…

اسپاناخ

aspanakh

A Persian vegetable word that crossed into Arabic,…

Azerbaijan

azerbaijan

Azerbaijan's name encodes a Zoroastrian theology of…

bacha-bazi

Two Persian words for boy and play that together name…

بادنگان

badingan

The eggplant's elegant French name is Persian at its…

barfi

The Persian word for snow gave its name to a sweet…

بریان

bi-RYA-ni

The most beloved rice dish of South Asia carries a…

biriyani

A dish whose name encodes a cooking technique, not a…

بته

boteh

A teardrop-shaped Persian motif traveled from Iranian…

چادر

chādor

The Persian word for an outer garment worn by millions…

chikan

A Mughal empress's needlework commission became a…

darbār

Durbar — a royal court or ceremonial assembly — was…

dastar

A Sikh warrior's crown wrapped from ten meters of…

دیوان

divān

A Persian word for accounts became a Turkish council,…

dīwānī

Diwani is a Persian script style developed for Ottoman…

دوغ

doogh

Persia's oldest thirst-quencher is the watery liquid…

دُلْبَنْد

dulband

Persian for a 'twisted sash,' the turban traveled…

Hindu

hindu

A river's name became a religion's name across two…

humāy

The Huma is a Persian mythological bird of good…

kajawah

Persian women crossed the Silk Road in a box between…

کاروان

kārvān

Merchants crossing deserts needed safety in…

کاروانسرا

kārvānsarā

The Persian roadside inn that kept the Silk Road alive…

kārvānsarāy

The caravansary was the motel of the Silk Road — a…

kenaf

A rope plant carries an old cannabis cousin's name.

kheema

The word for minced meat crossed three empires before…

kofta

A Persian word for beaten shaped every meatball from…

لوزینه

lawzineh

An almond-shaped Persian sweet cake gave its name to a…

لیلک

līlak

A Persian word meaning 'bluish' named a flowering…

مارخور

markhor

The goat's name says it eats snakes. The goat does no…

ملا

mullah

A word for a learned man began as a word for a master.

نماز

namaz

The oldest Indo-Iranian word for bowing down became…

نان

nān

The Persian word for bread is one of the most ancient…

نوروز

Nowruz

The Persian new year that falls on the astronomical…

پنیر

paneer

India's most famous fresh cheese arrived with a…

پرکاله

pārkāla

The luxury bedsheet fabric called percale — a closely…

pasanda

The Mughal emperor's kitchen named this dish after the…

پشمینه

pashmineh

From the Persian word for wool — pashm — comes the…

پسته

pista

The green nut's name has traveled through five…

پلو

polow

The method of cooking rice that keeps every grain…

قنات

qanat

A tunnel under a desert taught cities how to exist.

قرابه

qarrāba

The large glass bottle used in chemistry labs and…

قورمه

qorma

A method of preserving meat became one of South Asia's…

ریوند

rīwand

The dramatic plant at the back of every English garden…

رخ

rukh

The castle-shaped chess piece you've been calling a…

شلوار

salwar

A Persian trouser marched into South Asia and never…

سمبوسه

sambūsa

A filled pastry named in Persian traveled the medieval…

سرای

sarāy

A single Persian word for a grand enclosed dwelling…

شاه

shah

The game the Indians invented and the Persians named —…

shamshir

shamshīr

Persian gave the curved cavalry sword a name meaning…

تعارف

taarof

An elaborate dance of refusal and offer, of not…

tutenag

China's white copper alloy reached Georgian England…

یاسمین

yāsamīn

A Persian name for a fragrant white flower traveled…

German49

abseilen

Abseil means nothing more complicated than 'off rope'…

Akkordeon

Named for the chord — Akkord in German — the accordion…

Bierwurst

bierwurst

The sausage called beer-wurst contains no beer and…

Bildungsroman

German literary criticism invented a name for the…

Blitzkrieg

Lightning war—Germany's devastating military…

Blitzkrieg

The German word for 'lightning war' was not invented…

Brathering

brathering

Fried herring soaked in vinegar is one of Germany's…

Charlottenburg

charlottenburg

A palace renamed for a queen who died before she could…

Currywurst

currywurst

A Berlin stall owner mixed ketchup and curry powder in…

Dachshund

A badger dog: bred in 15th-century Germany to chase…

Friedrichshain

Berlin's most revolutionary neighborhood was named…

Geist

The German word for mind, spirit, and ghost all at…

Gemütlichkeit

Gemuetlichkeit

The German concept that German-Americans transplanted…

Gesundheit

The German word for 'health' — used as a blessing…

Graupel

A German word for tiny, soft pellets of ice — snow…

griebenschmalz

Griebenschmalz is the fat that refused to waste even…

Hamster

The hamster's name carries a five-thousand-year-old…

Hinterland

German geographers named the territory behind a port…

Hitler

hitler

The name that defines the century grew from a brook in…

Joachimsthaler

The German word for a coin minted in a Bohemian valley…

Knackwurst

knackwurst

The sausage named for the sharp crack its casing makes…

Kreuzberg

kreuzberg

An iron monument on a 66-meter hill named Berlin's…

krieg

Germany's word for war became English's word for a…

Kuchen

kuchen

Cake and kitchen are cousins. German kept the older…

lanzknecht

Lancers were spear-servants — German Lanzknecht…

Lederhosen

Leather breeches worn by Alpine farmers for hard…

Lehnwort

A loanword is a word borrowed from another language —…

Limburger

limburger

The world's most pungent cheese traces back to a duchy…

plunder

To steal household goods—a war word that entered…

Prinzregententorte

prinzregententorte

Seven thin sponge layers built to honor a regent who…

Pudel

The poodle's elaborate show-ring haircut was not…

Radschloss

The wheellock used a spinning wheel of steel against…

Riffelmann

The rifleman is named for a groove — the rifle's…

rollmops

A pickled herring rolled into a cylinder was named…

Sauerkraut

The fermented cabbage that fed European armies,…

schmalz

Schmalz began as goose fat and ended up meaning cheap…

Schnaps

A German word for a snap or gulp — the sharp, fast…

Schnitzel

A word meaning 'little cut' became the name of…

Schnorchel

A snorkel is named after the German word for a snout…

Schweinebraten

schweinebraten

Two Old High German words for pig and fire still name…

speck

A smoked ham from the Alps, shaped by two empires and…

Strudel

A German word for a whirlpool or eddy named a pastry…

Tilsiter

tilsiter

A cheese born in East Prussia outlived its empire, its…

verboten

The German past participle meaning 'forbidden' entered…

Wanderlust

A word English borrowed whole because it had no…

Weltanschauung

A German compound for the way one contemplates the…

wurst

Every German sausage carries a verb: to twist, to mix,…

yodel

Alpine vocal technique—rapid switching between chest…

Zeppelin

A Swabian count spent his retirement engineering the…

Portuguese47

açorda

acorda

Portugal's ancient bread soup carries an Arabic word…

albino

Portuguese explorers coined a Latin-rooted word for…

alheira

A sausage designed to fool the Inquisition still feeds…

auto da fé

The ceremony in which the Inquisition announced its…

Azores

azores

Sailors named nine Atlantic islands for hawks that…

Barbados

Portuguese sailors named an island for the beards of…

barreado

Barreado takes its name from the clay that sealed the…

barroco

The art-historical term for Europe's most elaborately…

beijinho

Brazil's coconut candy is literally a small kiss,…

Benin

A kingdom's name migrated two hundred miles west to…

bifana

Portugal's most popular street sandwich hides an…

bossa nova

The name of Brazil's most sophisticated musical export…

brigadeiro

A chocolate truffle named after a general who never…

Cameroon

Portuguese sailors named a country after the shrimp…

capoeira

The martial art disguised as dance — developed by…

caravela

The small, nimble ship that opened the Age of…

cerval

The Portuguese named an African wild cat after the…

cobra de capello

Portuguese sailors named it the 'hooded snake' and…

comando

The word that came to name the British military's most…

desenrascanço

The art of improvising a solution when no proper…

ema

The largest bird in Australia wears a name given it…

embaraçar

The English word for social mortification began as a…

fado

Portugal's great music of longing is named for fate —…

farofa

Toasted manioc flour carries a word that fuses Latin,…

feitiço

Portuguese sailors in West Africa called the sacred…

francesinha

Porto's most defiant sandwich was named for a little…

Gabon

gabon

Portugal named an entire nation after the shape of a…

leitão

leitao

Portugal's most celebrated roast pig carries the word…

linguiça

linguica

Portugal named this sausage after the tongue and it…

madeira

The wine is named after the island, and the island is…

mandarim

Portuguese merchants borrowed a Malay word for a…

melaço

The slow pour of molasses carries inside it the Latin…

moeda de ouro

The Portuguese gold coin that circulated in British…

morcela

Portugal's oldest sausage carries the color of Roman…

Ouro Preto

ouro-preto

A Brazilian city named for gold so dark it looked like…

palavra

The English word for tedious talk comes from the…

Ponta Delgada

ponta-delgada

The Azores' largest city is still named for what the…

Porto Alegre

Azorean settlers named their new harbor for a joy they…

prego

Portugal named its famous steak roll after a nail.

rapadura

Raw sugarcane scraped solid, rapadura has sweetened…

sabe

When a sailor asked 'savvy?' along the Atlantic coast…

São Paulo

A Jesuit feast day in 1554 named the largest city in…

sargaço

The mysterious floating weed that fills a still patch…

saudade

A word that defines a nation's soul—and has no…

tropeiro

The muleteers who stitched Brazil together left their…

Vinho do Porto

Port wine is named for a city it was never actually…

zebra

A Portuguese wild ass gave Africa's striped horse its…

Dutch47

aanslag

The English word for a fierce attack came from Dutch —…

baas

Dutch workers called their master or employer baas —…

berm

Vauban's military engineers named a shelf of earth…

bermed

A Dutch ditch-edge word that now shapes highways,…

bilander

A Dutch coasting vessel carried its own name across…

blaf

Dutch sailors used one word for the broad, flat bow of…

boel

The English bully began as a term of endearment — a…

boom

Before it meant an explosion or an economic surge,…

brandewijn

Dutch merchants discovered that burning wine to…

de kooi

The first decoy was not a wooden duck but a cage —…

donderbus

A Dutch thunder-gun with a flared barrel that…

doop

A thick sauce for dipping — that is what the Dutch…

drillen

A Dutch word that meant to bore a hole and to turn…

ezel

The painter's easel is a donkey — Dutch artists named…

gezellig

The Dutch word gezellig has no English translation,…

haakbus

Harquebus (also arquebus) comes from Dutch haakbus —…

harpoen

Harpoon comes from Dutch harpoen, possibly from Old…

husselen

Hustle began with shaking lots in a hat — Dutch…

jacht

Dutch sailors built fast, light ships called jachten —…

jenever

The Dutch named their juniper spirit jenever after the…

jol

A small fishing boat from the Low Countries lent its…

koolsla

A simple Dutch cabbage salad sailed to America with…

kruisen

Dutch sailors used kruisen — to sail crosswise, to…

landschap

Dutch painters invented a word for a painting of land…

loeris

The slowest primate in the world was named by Dutch…

manneken

mannequin

A little-man word became the silent body of modern…

Matjes

matjes

The word for virgin herring comes from a Dutch word…

matjeshering

Matjeshering takes its name from the Dutch word for a…

New Zealand

new zealand

New Zealand takes its name from a Dutch province Abel…

nippen

The word nip — a small, quick drink — comes from a…

polder

A country that built itself from the sea floor,…

ranten

A Dutch word for talking foolishly or raving crossed…

rijsttafel

Rijsttafel means 'rice table' in Dutch. It was…

rooster

The Dutch word for a grid or grating — the lined paper…

schets

A word for a quick drawing came from the Dutch who…

schipper

The Dutch captain of a river barge became the word for…

schoener

When a new kind of ship slid into Gloucester Harbor, a…

slede

The word for a snow vehicle came from the same Dutch…

slim

In Dutch the word means crafty, clever, or shrewd —…

sloep

A small Dutch vessel that could slip through shallow…

snoepen

The Dutch verb snoepen meant to eat sweets on the sly…

spook

A Dutch word for ghosts crossed the Atlantic with…

tafereel

The decorated rail at a ship's stern began as a wooden…

trekker

The Dutch word for 'puller' — the lever you pull to…

verlof

A Dutch soldier's right to temporary leave from…

vrijbuiter

Dutch pirates who plundered under no flag coined the…

Yankee

yankee

Yankee began as a Dutch cheese-maker's insult before…

Hindi46

अचकन

achkan

A coat stitched between empires still looks like…

āṇā

The anna was one-sixteenth of a rupee — a coin so…

बैंगन

baingan

The eggplant's name was borrowed, reborrowed, and…

बांसुरी

bansuri

A flute kept the memory of bamboo inside its name.

भरल

bharal

The blue sheep is not a sheep. The old name ignores…

बिंदी

bindi

A dot became a jewel, a sign, and an argument.

budgerow

British India moved its officials by river, one slow…

butter chicken

Butter chicken was born by accident in a Delhi kitchen…

छाछ

chaas

India's oldest cooling drink is the liquid left after…

chaat

Every street corner in India is named after the act of…

चायवाला

chāīvālā

The word for a tea seller became the most politically…

champissage

The Ayurvedic head massage that gave English shampoo…

channa

The Sanskrit name for chickpeas survived three…

चपाती

chapātī

The Hindi word for India's most consumed flatbread is…

चारपाई

charpoy

An English camp bed is literally just a four-legged…

चटनी

chaṭnī

The condiment that conquered British tables — and…

छींट

chīṇṭ

The fabric that once dazzled Europe was so popular it…

chukker

The Sanskrit wheel that became polo's unit of time.

दही

dahi

One of South Asia's oldest foods is still called by an…

दाल

dal

Lentil stew—the staple food of South Asia, feeding…

dal tadka

The sizzle that finishes a pot of lentils has its own…

दरी

dhurrie

A floor covering gave empire one of its most portable…

घाट

ghat

A staircase became a mountain range and a riverbank at…

جلبی

jalebi

A fried spiral from Baghdad became festival sugar in…

खादी

khadi

A homespun cloth became a political weapon.

खाट

khāṭ

The Indian bed frame that became the hospital bed and…

कुर्ता

kurta

A simple shirt carries the memory of Persian courts.

लूट

lūṭ

The Hindi word for plunder entered English during the…

मसाला

masala

The word for spice mixture now seasons songs, films,…

नीलगाय

nilgai

India's largest antelope is named as if it were a blue…

पान

paan

A leaf became a ritual.

paanwallah

Every street corner in India has one, and Sanskrit…

पक्का

pakkā

The Hindi word for 'cooked' became British slang for…

पकोड़ा

pakora

The name of a fritter probably began as a word for…

palampore

A painted Indian bedspread carried Persian garden…

पंखा

paṅkhā

Before electric fans existed, a large swinging cloth…

पट्टी

paṭṭī

The spiral leg wrappings worn by soldiers in two world…

rajma

The kidney bean sailed from Mexico to Goa and…

saag

Saag is a Sanskrit word in continuous use for three…

सास-बहू

saas-bahu

A Sanskrit term for domestic power became South Asia's…

sambhar

South Asia's largest deer lent its name to temple…

tāḍī

A fermented sap drink tapped from palm trees in India…

tatty

Coarse Indian matting gave Britain its word for…

तराई

terai

A word for wet ground came to name one of South Asia's…

ठगी

ṭhagī

The British campaign against organized highway robbers…

टोपी

ṭopī (Hindi)

The pith helmet became the visual signature of British…

Japanese36

合気道

aikidō

The 'way of harmonizing energy' asks practitioners to…

anpan

A Chinese filling and a Portuguese word met in a Tokyo…

幕府

bakufu / shogunate

The shogunate — Japan's military government system…

弁当

bento

A convenience-store lunch box carries a bureaucrat's…

琵琶

biwa

Japan's biwa began as a Chinese name that imitated…

武士道

bushidō

The samurai code of honor was not written down until…

champon

A restaurant owner from Fujian invented champon in…

大名

daimyo

Japan's feudal lords took their title from a Chinese…

都々逸

dodoitsu

Twenty-six syllables shaped a love poem that geisha…

外人

gaijin

Japan gave its word for stranger a life that outlasted…

餃子

gyōza

A Chinese dumpling that Japanese soldiers brought home…

襦袢

juban

An undergarment borrowed from Portuguese became…

柔道

jūdō

The 'gentle way' was designed not to destroy an…

kakiage

Kakiage fries disparate ingredients into a single…

神風

kamikaze

The Japanese word for the typhoons that shattered…

かわいい

kawaii

The word for cute began much closer to pitiable.

系列

keiretsu

Japan's postwar corporate networks grew from the ruins…

憲兵隊

kenpeitai

Modeled on French gendarmes, the Kenpeitai became…

melonpan

Melonpan is named for a melon it does not contain.

忍者

ninja

The 'one who endures' was never a masked acrobat — the…

能

noh

A word that meant ability became Japan's most…

海苔

nori

The edible seaweed that wraps your sushi roll was once…

パン粉

panko

Panko — the Japanese breadcrumb used in kitchens…

薩摩

satsuma

A citrus fruit is named for a Japanese domain, not for…

shabu

A restaurant in Osaka named a dish after the sound of…

死神

shinigami

The Japanese gave death a name, a face, and a set of…

将軍

shogun

Japan's most famous ruler began as a job title, not a…

shokupan

Japanese white bread carries a Portuguese word that…

数独

sūdoku

The number puzzle that conquered newspapers wasn't…

寿司

sushi

The word means 'sour rice' — a preservation technique…

沢庵

takuan

A Zen monk's name on a yellow radish pickle he…

ツンデレ

tsundere

A manga character trait became a global emotional…

和紙

WA·shi

The paper that Japanese craftspeople have made from…

和菓子

wagashi

Japan invented the word for its own sweets only after…

焼き肉

yakiniku

Japan named a Korean grilling tradition with a…

財閥

zaibatsu

Japan built modern capitalism with family empires,…

Quechua36

anticuchos

The Incas grilled beef heart before there was beef in…

arracacha

This carrot-shaped root reached Spanish with its…

ayahuasca

ayawaska

The 'vine of the dead' — a ritual brew whose Quechua…

ayllu

The fundamental unit of Andean social organization —…

cancha

A corn snack gave Spanish one of its most useful words…

carapulcra

Peru's oldest dish was named for the hot stones inside…

causa

The Quechua word for life became Peru's most political…

ch'arki

The Incas invented freeze-drying by leaving meat…

choclo

Spanish borrowed one Andean word for corn because…

chupe

A Quechua verb for sipping became the Andes' most…

wanu

guano

Bird droppings once financed states and renamed global…

humita

The Inca wrapped corn with cheese centuries before…

Inti

The Inca sun god — whose name is simply the Quechua…

quipu

khipu

The Inca Empire administered millions of people…

kina

Quinine is the bitter alkaloid extracted from the bark…

kuka

Coca is the sacred leaf of the Andes, chewed for…

kuntur

The Andean bird that carries souls to the sun—its name…

locro

A mountain stew older than the Inca Empire feeds…

mink'a

The Andes had an economy without money. You worked…

oca

A tuber from the Andes kept its mountain name almost…

Pachamama

The Andean earth goddess — whose name joins 'time' and…

pampa

Pampa is the word for the great treeless grasslands of…

pampa

The Quechua word for a flat, treeless plain gave…

patasca

This highland soup is named for the moment corn…

pisco

The Peruvian brandy whose name means 'bird' — and…

puma

The Inca word for their sacred mountain lion now sells…

puna

The high treeless plain of the Andes — cold,…

qina

quena

One of the Andes' oldest flutes reached English…

cuy

quwi

The guinea pig — domesticated in the Andes some 5,000…

sumak kawsay

An Andean philosophy of living well in…

soroche

suruchi

Altitude sickness acquired its South American name…

totora

A reed built boats, islands, roofs, and a word across…

ulluco

This tuber crossed an empire and still never conquered…

guanaco

wanaku

The wild ancestor of the llama — lean, wary, and…

wikuña

The vicuña is the wild camelid of the high Andes whose…

Wiraqocha

The Inca creator deity — whose name may mean 'sea of…

Sanskrit34

अहिंसा

ahiṃsā

The ancient vow of non-violence that shaped Gandhi and…

आश्रम

ashram

A forest hut became a global address for spiritual…

आयुर्वेद

āyurveda

The Sanskrit words for 'life-span' and 'knowledge'…

Bhutan

bhutan

The world named Bhutan the edge of Tibet; Bhutanese…

𑀩𑁆𑀭𑀸𑀳𑁆𑀫𑀻

brāhmī

Nearly every script in South and Southeast Asia…

champa

A flower named a kingdom that fed half of Asia.

Chaudhry

chaudhry

A South Asian title of authority built entirely from…

imarti

A Vedic word for immortality poured itself into a…

Juhu

juhu

A Vedic ritual ladle gave its curved name to Mumbai's…

kheer

Milk boiled to silk in ancient India still feeds the…

क्षत्रिय

kshatriya

A Sanskrit word for warrior-kings that entered…

ladoo

A Sanskrit ball became the subcontinent's most sacred…

mleccha

Sanskrit's word for barbarian was defined entirely by…

नाट्य

natya

The Sanskrit word for dramatic art — encompassing…

papad

A lentil disc so old it appears in Sanskrit texts from…

पिप्पली

pippalī

A Sanskrit word for the long pepper plant traveled…

राजा

rajah

A village title in India became a courtly English word…

रानी

rani

A queen's title in India traveled into English without…

राष्ट्रपति

rashtrapati

India named its president using the oldest political…

sādhu

The sadhu is the wandering holy man of India — one who…

संसार

saṃsāra

In Buddhist and Hindu thought, existence itself is the…

शक्ति

shakti

Power began as a goddess before it became an abstract…

श्रीखंड

shrikhand

A dessert named for Lakshmi and sugar has roots in the…

श्री लङ्का

sri lanka

Sri Lanka is an ancient Sanskrit name that spent four…

शृङ्गवेर

śṛṅgavera

A word meaning 'horn-shaped' in Sanskrit — describing…

स्वस्तिक

svastika

For 5,000 years it meant good fortune. Then one…

स्वराज

swaraj

Self-rule was first a moral demand, not a flag on a…

तन्त्र

tantra

The Sanskrit word for a loom became the name for texts…

तिलक

tilak

A tiny mark on the forehead carried a civilization's…

उपनिषद्

upanishad

One of India's grandest texts is named for sitting…

Uttarakhand

uttarakhand

Uttara means north; khanda means piece. Together they…

वास्तु

vastu

Five thousand years ago, Indian builders mapped the…

vibhūti

vibhuti

Sacred ash and superhuman power share one Sanskrit…

योग

yoga

A 5,000-year-old Sanskrit word for spiritual union…

Tamil30

அணைக்கட்டு

anicut

A village dam in Tamil country renamed river…

அப்பளம்

appalam

A thin disc from village kitchens became a global…

அரிசி

arici

The grain that feeds half the world — and whose…

கஞ்சி

congee

A humble rice gruel traveled empire routes and fed…

சுருட்டு

curuṭṭu

The cigar without a pointed end — and a Tamil word for…

தோசை

dosa

A fermented crepe from South India outlived empires…

ஏரி

ēri

Tamil has a specific word for a man-made irrigation…

gingelly

English named sesame oil with a Tamil word and then…

கோபுரம்

gopuram

South India made a gateway so tall the gate became the…

இடியாப்பம்

idiyappam

Threads of rice became one of South India's oldest…

கல்வெட்டு

kalveṭṭu

The Tamil word for 'stone inscription' is itself older…

கறி

kaṟi

A Tamil word for sauce or gravy became the British…

கறிவேப்பிலை

kariveppilai

Tamil cooks named this leaf for the dish it defined,…

காசு

kāsu

A Tamil word for "coin" became the universal word for…

கட்டுமரம்

kaṭṭumaram

The Tamil 'tied logs' became the world's fastest…

மிளகுத்தண்ணீர்

miḷaku-taṇṇīr

Pepper water — the Tamil soup British colonizers…

முறுக்கு

murukku

The snack is named after a twist, and the twist is the…

பச்சிலை

paccilai

The heavy, earthy perfume that scented Victorian…

பல்லக்கு

pallakku

The Tamil word for a palanquin — a covered litter…

பந்தல்

pandal

Every year, tens of millions of people in South and…

பப்படம்

pappaḍam

The crackling, thin wafer that ends the meal before it…

பறையர்

paṟaiyar

A Tamil caste name became English's cruelest word for…

poonac

The pressed dry coconut cake that fed the same…

puto

A Tamil steamed rice cake traveled from the Coromandel…

ரசம்

rasam

A word for essence became the thin broth people trust…

சாம்பார்

sambar

A royal kitchen accident probably named the broth that…

தோட்டி

tōṭṭi

The Tamil word for a hooked pole — used to guide…

உப்புமா

upma

A simple breakfast word traveled farther than many…

வெற்றிலை

veṟṟilai

The leaf that stained the lips of emperors and…

வெட்டிவேர்

vettiver

A Tamil root that perfumed empires and cooled the…

Russian29

атаман

ataman

The Cossack chief who led free riders across the…

балалайка

balalayka

The triangle-bodied lute became the sound of…

белуга

beluga

The Russian word for 'white' gave its name to two very…

боярин

boyarin

The Russian aristocrats who preceded the Romanovs bore…

чернозём

chernozem

The blackest dirt in Europe became an international…

гусли

gusli

A plural noun became the singular emblem of an old…

интеллигенция

intelligentsiya

Russian writers of the 1860s coined a word for the…

компот

kompot

A French kitchen term became the Soviet Union's…

копейка

kopeyka

Named for the tiny horseman with a spear stamped on…

кремль

kreml'

Kremlin is not a name but a common noun — the Russian…

мужик

mujik

A word for a peasant still sounds like a verdict on a…

область

oblast

An ordinary word for region became one of empire's…

орда

orda

From royal palace to invading horde, one word for…

пельмени

pel'meni

Pelmeni — Russian meat dumplings — carry their origin…

перестройка

perestroyka

"Restructuring" was supposed to save the Soviet…

пирожки

pirozhki

The diminutive of the Russian word for pie produced…

погром

pogrom

Russia gave the world a word for organized mass…

пончики

ponchiki

A Polish flower bud traveled east and became Russia's…

samovar

The self-boiler that warmed Russian winters became a…

шапка

shapka

The Russian word for a fur hat — born of necessity in…

шашлык

shashlik

The word for skewered grilled meat crossed from…

shchi

Russia's oldest soup has an etymology as murky as its…

Строганов

STRO-ga-noff

One of the world's most famous beef dishes is named…

тоска

toská

Vladimir Nabokov said there is no English word for…

тройка

troyka

Three horses pulled a sleigh across the Russian…

vareniki

Boiling gave them their name before filling gave them…

ватрушка

vatrushka

Russia's oldest open-faced pastry hides a fire god's…

верста

versta

Russia measured its vast distances in a unit derived…

Yakutia

The largest territorial subdivision on Earth carries a…

Old Norse29

álfr

The Norse believed that elves stole healthy babies and…

bǫrkr

The bark of a tree, the bark of a dog, and a sailing…

búinn

The front of a ship that slices into waves carries a…

bylǫg

bylog

Not from the English word 'by' meaning 'near,' but…

dalr

A word that the Vikings carved into the English…

Denmark

denmark

Harald Bluetooth carved Denmark's name in runic stone…

egg

For centuries, the English language ran two words in…

Finland

finland

Finland is a name Finns never gave themselves.

flaga

Flagstone comes from Old Norse flaga — a slab or flat…

flytja

flyting

The formal Norse contest of ritual insult — where…

haggva

From the Old Norse verb meaning 'to hew, to chop, to…

Iceland

iceland

A Viking named a green island after one bad winter's…

jarl

The Norse word for a nobleman who owed allegiance to a…

jarlar

The jarls were not just noblemen — they were the…

kaka

Vikings brought the word cake to England. Marie…

kjǫlr

The Norse word for a ship's spine — the long timber…

knífr

The word 'knife' carries a silent K that has not been…

Lapland

lapland

The name that Europe gave to the Sámi is not their own.

Orkney

Greek navigators named these islands before any Norse…

rún

ruːn

The word meant 'secret' or 'mystery' before it meant…

scrape

The Vikings left this word in England alongside their…

skál

When Norse warriors raised a drinking bowl and cried…

skorpna

An Old Norse word for shriveling gave English its most…

sprinta

The word for the shortest race comes from an Old Norse…

steik

The word 'steak' is not a French culinary term or a…

swidden

Called primitive for centuries, it is now recognized…

ves heill

Wassail started as a Viking toast — 'be well' — and…

vindauga

Before glass, a hole in the wall was simply an eye for…

þræll

A þræll was a slave in Old Norse society — a human…

Tagalog27

abaka

abaca

Abaca is the Tagalog name for a Philippine banana…

ampalaya

The bitterest vegetable in Filipino cooking keeps a…

anito

The dead became carved figures, household gods, and…

bahala na

ba-HA-la NA

The Tagalog phrase often translated as 'whatever will…

bagoong

Filipino cuisine built a national flavor from…

barong Tagalog

The national formal garment of the Philippines is a…

bayanihan

In the Philippines, when a family needed to move, the…

bundok

American soldiers mispronounced "mountain"—and made it…

kalamansi

calamansi

A backyard citrus became a diaspora flavor passport.

dinuguan

A Filipino blood stew built from a word that simply…

ilang-ilang

EE-lang EE-lang

The flower whose name means 'flower of flowers' in…

halo-halo

HA-lo HA-lo

The name of the Philippines' most beloved dessert…

kalabaw

ka-la-BOW

The water buffalo of the Philippines carries a name…

kakanin

A single Tagalog prefix names every sticky, sweet rice…

kalamay

A sticky sweet from pre-colonial Philippines that…

kogon

KOH-gon

A grass so aggressive that ecologists call it 'the…

kundiman

koon-dee-MAHN

The most beloved song form of the Philippines was born…

lugaw

The plainest Filipino porridge carries the oldest word…

utang na loob

OO-tang na LO-ob

The Tagalog concept of a debt owed not in money but…

pakikisama

pa-kee-kee-SA-ma

The Tagalog concept of going along with the group, of…

palitaw

The rice cake named itself by floating to the surface…

parol

A lamp from Spain became a star in the Philippines.

salakot

An anticolonial hat gave Europe one of its favorite…

santol

The Filipino fruit whose English name traveled…

siling labuyo

The Philippines' fiercest chili arrived by galleon and…

tamaraw

tamarau

One Philippine buffalo travels globally under a…

tinapa

Tinapa names smoked fish by the act of smoking, baked…

Middle English24

ahoy

A shout of greeting across water with roots in Middle…

ancient

Before it named age, ancient named position in a line.

bageard

Nobody knows for certain where this word comes from,…

bodekin

Shakespeare put a bodkin in Hamlet's most famous…

borel

The humblest of fabrics, whose name may trace back to…

cup + board

cup-bord

A cupboard was literally a cup-board — an open shelf…

forecast

To forecast was to plan ahead — Middle English…

forecastle

The raised forward deck where sailors lived was once…

gun wale

A word that preserves in its spelling the age when…

huckster

The word for an aggressive salesperson started as an…

kidnēre

Nobody knows where the English word 'kidney' comes…

lawyer

The word for law came not from Rome but from Viking…

napkin

A diminutive tablecloth that shrank to fit the lap.

naughty

nauhti

To be naughty once meant to have naught — nothing, no…

odour

The Latin word for smell carries traces of gods,…

pox

Pox began as 'pocks' — the plural of pock, a pustule —…

scrimpe

The word 'shrimp' comes from a root meaning 'to…

skirmusshen

A skirmish was a sword-scraping encounter — the word…

smolderen

Middle English found a word for fire that refuses to…

stot

A word of unknown origin for an animal that turns…

tēle

The word for the blue-green color comes from a small…

trendle

The word for the bed that rolls under another bed…

upset

Upset once meant to set something firmly upright, not…

wrap

A North Sea cloth word became the signal that ends…

Medieval Latin24

aequator

The line that divides the planet in half takes its…

annuitas

An annuity is a yearly thing — Medieval Latin annuitas…

biscoctus

The Romans baked their bread twice to drive out every…

bursarius

bursārius

The bursar — the person who handles a university's…

cancellaria

Chancery italic — the slanted, flowing script that…

cordialis

cordiālis

A drink 'for the heart' started as medicine, became a…

electivus

Elective means chosen — Medieval Latin electivus came…

fixtura

A scheduled sporting contest is called a fixture —…

citrina

ki-TREE-na

The yellow quartz that was long passed off as topaz…

marchensis

marchēnsis

The title that ranks between duke and earl — marquis —…

marinarius

The word for the person who works the sea is built on…

nux gatum

A Latin phrase meaning 'nut cake' traveled through…

nux muscata

Medieval Europeans ground a tropical seed and found…

ordinantia

An ordinance is an ordering — from Latin ordinare, to…

pera

A word for a stone pillar supporting a bridge became…

pergamena

A city in Asia Minor gave its name to the writing…

planisphaerium

A planisphere is a sphere made flat — the impossible…

Russia

russia

Russia takes its name from Norse oarsmen who colonized…

salvagium

A Latin word rooted in 'to save' — the act of rescuing…

scorbutus

The disease that killed more sailors than storms,…

scyphate

Byzantine moneyers bent their coins into cups, and…

Slavic

A people who named themselves for speech were later…

spinella

spee-NEL-la

For five centuries, the most famous 'ruby' in the…

vicecomes

The title viscount — from vice + comes, a deputy count…

Turkish24

ayran

A peasant yogurt drink outlived sultans and became a…

bayram

bairam

A festival word crossed borders faster than empires…

başlık

bashlyk

A simple hood rode from Turkic headgear into imperial…

bey armudu

A Turkish phrase meaning 'lord's pear' -- a fruit too…

beylik

Before the Ottoman Empire, a dozen rival beyliks…

börek

borek

A folded pastry gave English one of its crispest…

boş

A Turkish word meaning 'empty' or 'worthless' --…

bulghur

Wheat parboiled three thousand years ago still cooks…

bulgur

A Turkish word for cracked, parboiled wheat that…

havyar

caviar

Luxury's favorite garnish may carry a Turkic name…

çubuk

A Turkish word for a stick or rod -- something…

dolmuş

dolmus

Istanbul's shared taxi departs only when the driver…

kalpak

A Turkish word for a tall, conical fur hat -- the…

kaymak

The richest cream in the room became a word that still…

kilim

A flat-woven rug without knots or pile — just…

lokma

A single fried morsel once fed the souls of the…

Osmanlı

A dynasty named for a fourteenth-century tribal…

paşa

A title of the highest Ottoman rank — given to…

sujuk

A cured sausage that traveled from Central Asian…

طغرا

tughra

An empire signed itself with a picture too complex to…

yakamoz

The reflection of moonlight on water. One perfect word…

yatağan

A curved sword without a guard -- named for the…

yeniçeri

An elite Ottoman infantry corps recruited from…

yoğurt

Central Asian nomads preserved milk with bacteria—and…

Yoruba23

abara

The steamed twin of acarajé, abara crossed the…

àdìrẹ

adire

A cloth word remembers the hand that tied the dye into…

àgbàdá

agbada

A robe can be architecture with sleeves.

agogo

A bell word from Yorubaland now keeps time for half…

àkàrà

akara

A street fritter crossed an ocean and kept frying.

amala

Dark, smooth, and centuries old, amala defines what…

apala

Apala is a Yoruba percussion and vocal music style…

aṣẹ

ashe

A single Yoruba syllable became prayer, verdict, and…

bàbáláwo

The Yoruba divination priest — the one who reads the…

Babalola

babalola

A Yoruba father's honor encoded in a single name.

dùndún

The hourglass-shaped drum that can replicate the tones…

dùndún

The talking drum — dùndún in Yoruba — is a pressure…

Egúngún

The Yoruba masquerade tradition in which the living…

egusi

A soup is named for the seed, not the bowl.

Èṣù

The Yoruba orisha who stands at crossroads, carries…

Ifá

Ifa

Ifá is simultaneously a deity, a divination system, a…

moi moi

moimoi

Steamed in leaves, this bean pudding fed Yoruba…

Odùduwà

The founding ancestor of the Yoruba people — the…

Ògún

The Yoruba orisha of iron, war, and labor is named…

òrìṣà

orisha

A sacred Yoruba word crossed the Atlantic and refused…

Ọ̀ṣun

Oshun is the Yoruba goddess of love, fertility, and…

Oya

The Yoruba orisha of storms, lightning, wind, and the…

Sàngó

The Yoruba orisha of thunder, lightning, and justice…

Swahili23

amani

Swahili word for peace, from Arabic—a single word…

asante

The Swahili word for 'thank you' is not a native Bantu…

baraza

A bench became a parliament without ever leaving the…

boma

A thorn-fence enclosure to protect cattle became the…

bwana

The colonial master's most confident title — the word…

hakuna matata

Disney didn't invent it — Swahili speakers have been…

harambee

The national motto of Kenya — printed on its coat of…

hodari

Brave, skilled, strong, capable—a single Swahili word…

jambo

The Swahili greeting that every tourist learns first —…

jenga

A global tower game is named by a verb meaning build.

kitenge

Kitenge is the East African name for the brightly…

kwanza

An American professor invented a new holiday in 1966…

mchoro

A line drawn in sand became the blueprint for an…

nguvu

Strength, power, force. Physical strength, but also…

ugali

oo-GAH-lee

The Swahili word for the stiff maize porridge that is…

panga

The broad-bladed machete that clears East African…

rafiki

The word for 'friend' that traveled from East Africa…

simba

The Swahili word for lion — one of the oldest animal…

sukuma

Sukuma means 'push' in Swahili, and the name of the…

tembo

In Swahili, the same word means both elephant and palm…

twiga

The giraffe has one of the most onomatopoetically…

uhuru

The Swahili word for 'freedom' became the rallying cry…

ujamaa

A family word became the name of a national economic…

Mongolian21

айл

ail

Family, hearth, and the circle of gers that made a…

аймаг

aimag

A word for tribe became a word for province.

айраг

airag

A drink fermented on horseback still names Mongolian…

darughachi

The Mongol Empire governed a continent with a man, a…

дээл

deel

The Mongolian word for the long, wrapped robe worn by…

дзэрэн

dzeren

A steppe antelope entered English wearing its…

dziggetai

The Mongolian wild ass that outran every rider who…

гэр

ger

The portable home that moved with empires and still…

Ilkhan

ilkhan

A title for one khan became the name of a whole…

хулан

khulan

A wild ass gave English one of its cleanest desert…

khuushuur

Mongolia's fried meat pastry fed armies across the…

құрылтай

kurultai

An empire that rode horses across Eurasia governed…

Mongolian

mongolian

The name Mongolian carried the memory of the largest…

Наадам

naadam

A Mongolian word meaning 'games' or 'festival' names…

ноён

noyan

The Mongol Empire ran on commanders called noyan.

ноён

noyon

An old Mongol title survived empire, translation, and…

курултай

qurultay

The word for the assembly that decided the fate of…

тарвага

tarbagan

An alpine marmot reached English carrying a Mongolian…

түмэн

tumen

The Mongols counted armies by ten thousand and made…

ulus

One steppe word could mean people, realm, and…

яса

yasa

The secret law code that unified an empire and…

Korean20

아줌마

ajumma

A kinship title became a social force in modern cities.

아리랑

arirang

No one knows what the word means, but every Korean…

빙수

bingsu

A royal Korean court dessert became the world's…

체면

chaemyeon

Korea borrowed the Chinese concept of 'face' and…

cheongju

The same two characters name Korea's clearest rice…

도시락

dosirak

A Korean lunchbox with an uncertain name carried the…

갈비

galbi

The ribs that built a global Korean barbecue empire.

gimbap

Rice rolled in dried seaweed, carrying two thousand…

김치

gimchi

Fermented cabbage became national identity—a word that…

gochugaru

The red powder that defines Korean cuisine arrived…

고추장

gochujang

Korea met the chili pepper in the 1600s and within a…

한

han

A grief so old it became a people's defining emotion.

한

han

A grief so old it became a cultural inheritance

한지

hanji

Korean paper made from mulberry bark has survived a…

칼국수

kalguksu

This Korean noodle is named for the knife that makes…

김밥

kimbap

One of Korea's most portable foods is named with…

kimchee

The word buried in brine for a thousand years before…

만화

manhwa

The same two Chinese characters name comics in three…

seolleongtang

A milky white ox-bone broth born from a Joseon royal…

택견

taekkyeon

One of Korea's oldest fighting arts moves like play…

Māori19

Aotearoa

aotearoa

The Māori name for New Zealand holds three words…

iwi

EE-wee

The Māori word for tribe — whose older meanings…

whakapapa

FAH-kah-pah-pah

The Māori word for genealogy literally means 'to place…

kaitiaki

kai-tee-AH-kee

The Māori guardian, trustee, or steward — a word whose…

kaitiakitanga

The Māori concept of guardianship—the idea that you…

kauri

KAW-ree

The giant conifer that defined New Zealand's early…

kōrero

korero

To speak, to tell stories—and also the stories…

moa

An extinct bird kept its Māori name because no other…

moko

A face once became a document. The word for it still…

utu

OO-too

Widely mistranslated as 'revenge,' utu is actually the…

Pākehā

pakeha

A Māori outsider-term became a chosen identity label…

pōwhiri

PAW-fee-ree

The Māori welcoming ceremony — a formal protocol for…

tangi

TAHNG-ee

The Māori word for a funeral gathering — and for the…

taiaha

This weapon was also a grammar lesson delivered at…

taniwha

A taniwha is a Māori water guardian — a powerful being…

taonga

A treasure can be land, a song, or a legal argument.

tikanga

tee-KAHNG-ah

The Māori word for custom, protocol, and the right way…

tūranga

The Māori word tūranga means a standing place — the…

wharenui

A house can be a body, an ancestor, and a parliament.

American English18

ballyhoo

Nobody knows where this word came from, and that…

blockbuster

The word for a hit movie began as slang for a bomb.

dumpster

A Tennessee inventor's surname became the global word…

dunderfunk

Sailors baked hardtack and molasses into a pudding…

dweeb

American slang invented a word for the studious…

eggplant

Italian physicians once called this plant mela insana,…

escalator

Otis needed a trademark; Latin supplied the name in…

gorp

A verb for greedy eating, documented in the Oxford…

gyatt

A streamer's involuntary syllable became the…

highboy

The word is an American invention that sounds like it…

janky

A word born in the backseat, not the boardroom.

knickers

A cartoon Dutchman invented by Washington Irving…

nerd

A nonsense creature in a Dr. Seuss book escaped the…

nickelodeon

A nickel bought your ticket because Saxon miners…

noogie

A knuckle scraped across your skull has had a name…

popcorn

Six thousand years of popping corn waited for one…

skedaddle

A word born in Civil War panic still sounds like…

sneakers

Rubber soles made footsteps so silent the shoes earned…

Zulu18

imamba

The mamba is the fastest venomous snake in Africa —…

imbizo

A chief's summons became South Africa's tool for…

impala

The impala is the most abundant large antelope on the…

impi

An English war word came straight from the language of…

induna

A colonial administration borrowed its local word for…

isicathamiya

A style named for soft footsteps became one of…

izimbongi

The Zulu praise poets spoke power into being before…

khwela

A Zulu word meaning 'climb up' — shouted as a warning…

kwaito

Post-apartheid South Africa invented a beat and named…

lobola

A marriage word became famous abroad because outsiders…

magwinya

Johannesburg's streets smell of magwinya long before…

mbaqanga

Mbaqanga is a South African music genre born in…

imbube

mbube

A lion gave its name to a song the world nearly forgot.

umuthi

muti

A word for tree became a word for medicine, then a…

Nguni

nguni

Surprisingly, Nguni began as a people's name.

isangoma

sangoma

South Africa's healer is named with a word for skill,…

sawubona

The Zulu greeting sawubona doesn't mean 'hello.' It…

ubuntu

I am because we are.

Basque17

agur

A Basque greeting meaning hello or goodbye — one of…

Balenciaga

balenciaga

A family name built from a Latin word for strength and…

bertsolari

A Basque oral poet who improvises sung verse in public…

Bolivia

bolivia

A nation named for a liberator who feared the honor.

chimichurri

Argentina's most fought-over sauce started in a Basque…

Euskara

Linguists have spent two centuries searching for…

Euzkadi

The Basque Country has no relatives in any language…

galdegaia

Unexpectedly, galdegaia is a modern Basque compound.

idiazabal

A Basque town whose name means wide ox land gave its…

ikastola

When Spain banned Basque, Basque parents opened hidden…

jai alai

A Basque festival game whose name means 'merry…

lauburu

Basque for 'four heads,' the lauburu is an ancient…

pintxo

The Basque word for the small-plate tradition that…

sorgin

The Basque sorgin — usually translated as 'witch' —…

txakoli

A tart, slightly sparkling white wine produced only in…

txalaparta

A Basque percussion instrument played by two people…

zorionak

The most-sung Basque word is a plural form of…

Dharug16

bubuk

boobook

An owl named itself, and English was smart enough not…

budyari

budgeree

A colonial adjective for good began as an Aboriginal…

coolamon

A wooden bowl became an English word before many…

corella

A Sydney bird name flew into English and stayed white…

gurrawaŋ

currawong

An Australian bird entered English with its cry still…

din-go

dingo

The wild dog of Australia gave English its name from…

dunnart

A tiny marsupial kept an Aboriginal name because…

giba

gibber

The Dharug word for stone gave Australian English both…

gunyah

A house word entered English while the houses…

myall

A colonial insult began as an Aboriginal word for a…

nulla nulla

nulla-nulla

English kept an Aboriginal club word and dropped…

waddy

English kept the club and nearly forgot the hand that…

walaru

A mid-sized marsupial taught linguists to listen to a…

warada

waratah

A flower name outlived the colony that tried to rename…

warrigal

Australia gave English a word for wildness, then used…

wonga

A pigeon word became a money word on the wrong…

Middle Dutch16

accijns

The tax on goods produced and sold within a country —…

bolwerc

A bulwark was made of tree trunks — bol (trunk) plus…

būsen

The Dutch verb for drinking to excess sailed across…

dek

Dutch sailors called the covering planks that roofed…

Flemish

flemish

A coastal people whose name may carry the memory of…

kitte

A sports team's uniform is called a kit — from Middle…

loteren

The Dutch word for shaking loosely, being unsteady,…

luc

The concept that defines gambling, superstition, and…

Netherlands

netherlands

A country named for what it lacks: elevation above the…

pekel

The Dutch word for a salty brine gave English its word…

pompe

A word that may have started as the sound of water…

snacken

A sharp bite, a snap of the jaw — Dutch sailors and…

stapel

The 'staple' commodity — the essential product of a…

stoof

Before it was something you cooked on, 'stove' was a…

tanckaert

The tankard was the serious drinker's vessel — a…

tromme

A sound that imitates itself. The Middle Dutch tromme…

Ottoman Turkish15

ağa

agha

In the Ottoman Empire, 'ağa' was a title that could…

bey

The word 'bey' was the Ottoman Empire's most elastic…

binbashi

Ottoman officers wore their rank as pure arithmetic.

dolma

The Turkish verb for 'to stuff' gave its name to an…

dunam

One plowed circle became the Middle East's most…

efendi

Every time a European correspondent addressed a…

eyalet

Ottoman governors ruled provinces so vast that eyalets…

kayık

The slender, high-prowed rowing boats that darted…

odalık

The word that launched a thousand Orientalist…

عثمانی

ottoman

An empire's name ended up under your feet.

saray

The word 'seraglio' reached English by the most…

سر عسكر

seraskier

The Ottoman war minister's title joined a Persian head…

tercüman

The interpreter who stood between the Sultan's court…

vezir

The Grand Vizier was the most powerful man in the…

ziamet

Ottoman cavalrymen received their wages not in coin…

Mexican Spanish15

burrito

A little donkey's name became the most portable meal…

campechana

A seafood cocktail named for the city where Spanish…

campechano

Campeche's reputation for warmth turned a city name…

chamoy

A Chinese pickled plum crossed the Pacific and became…

chilorio

Sinaloa's preserved pork takes its name from a Nahuatl…

discada

The plow disc retired from the field and became…

enmoladas

Tortillas bathed in mole carry the oldest sauce in the…

fajita

A strip of skirt steak that vaqueros made famous…

gordita

Spanish gave Mexico the word for fat and Mexico built…

machaca

Northern Mexico's dried beef began as a pounding…

mariachi

A word of disputed origin — possibly from a French…

pancita

Mexico's beloved tripe soup hides an ancient Roman…

quesadilla

A Latin cheese root folded into tortilla became…

sopes

A soaked thing became a griddled rim of corn and…

taco

Nobody knows exactly where 'taco' came from — and…

Amharic14

በርበሬ

BER-ber-AY

Ethiopia's master spice blend takes its name from an…

ቡና

BUN-nah

The Amharic word for coffee is almost certainly where…

ቡና

bunna

Ethiopia gave the world coffee, but the Amharic name…

ዕንሥጥ

ənset

Scientists have called it 'the tree against hunger' —…

ጌሾ

gešo

Every batch of tej — Ethiopia's ancient honey wine —…

ኢንጄራ

injera

Ethiopian sourdough flatbread made from teff flour is…

ክትፎ

KIT-fo

Ethiopia's answer to steak tartare is seasoned with…

mitmita

Ethiopia's sharpest spice blend carries a name older…

ንጥር ቅቤ

nit'ir qibé

Ethiopia's spiced clarified butter is the foundation…

ሽሮ

SHEE-ro

The Amharic word for a humble chickpea stew has…

ጤፍ

ṭeff

The world's smallest grain fed an empire for three…

ጠጅ

TEJJ

Ethiopia's ancient honey wine has been brewed in the…

tella

Ethiopia's oldest brew has been poured at every…

ዛር

zar

In Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, spirits possess…

Yiddish14

באַשערט

bashert

Your destined soulmate—meant to be before birth, a…

בייגל

beygl

The bagel's signature hole is not an accident of…

גנבֿ

ganef

The Yiddish word for a thief traces directly to the…

לאַטקע

latke

A Hanukkah pancake began as Greek oil.

נאַשן

nashn

To nosh is to nibble between meals — a word that…

פּאָץ

pots

A vulgar Yiddish word that crossed into English with…

רבי

rebbe

A Hebrew rabbi became a Yiddish rebbe and changed from…

shemozzle

Inside this British word for chaos are a German…

shicker

A Yiddish drunk walked into Australian slang and never…

שידוך

shidduch

A single arranged meeting that became the organizing…

שנאָרער

shnorer

The Yiddish word for a chronic moocher is not merely…

שטעטל

shtetl

A word that held an entire world, now a ghost of memory

יאָרצײַט

yahrzeit

A calendar word became a private architecture for…

שלאָב

zhlob

A Yiddish word for a coarse, awkward lout that arrived…

Afrikaans13

aardvark

A South African compound entered English natural…

aardwolf

The aardwolf is not a wolf. Its name insists that it…

apartheid

The Afrikaans word for 'separateness' named one of…

biltong

South Africa's dried meat tradition carries, in its…

kaross

A cloak of skins became a museum word for a vanished…

klipspringer

This antelope is named with two stones and a leap.

meerkat

Meerkat was first a monkey. The mongoose stole the…

potjiekos

Every syllable is Dutch, but the dish belongs to the…

rondavel

The circular thatched hut of southern Africa has no…

rooibos

An Afrikaans word meaning 'red bush' — a name so plain…

spoor

Trackers across southern Africa read the land like…

springbok

South Africa's national animal has a name built from…

stoep

The shaded ledge before a Cape farmhouse became the…

Tibetan13

Amdo

amdo

Tibet's northeastern region gave the world its most…

བླ་མ

bla-ma

The Tibetan title for a spiritual teacher carried in…

གཡའ་དྲེད

g.ya'-dred

The creature that Western mountaineers called the…

དགོན་པ

gompa

Gompa — 'solitary place' — names the Buddhist…

ཀ་ཏག

kha-btags

The white silk scarf presented at every significant…

Kham

kham

Eastern Tibet's warriors gave the word for the realm…

མཆོད་རྟེན

mchod-rten

The white-domed monuments that mark sacred points…

རིན་པོ་ཆེ

rin-po-che

The Tibetan honorific meaning 'precious jewel' is…

རླུང་རྟ

rlung-rta

The Tibetan phrase meaning 'wind horse' names both the…

རྩམ་པ

rtsam-pa

The roasted barley flour that has sustained human life…

རྟ་གནའ

takin

A Himalayan bovine reached English from the mountains…

ཐང་ཀ

thangka

A thangka is a Tibetan painted scroll whose entire…

སྤྲུལ་སྐུ

tulku

A word that holds a soul's address across multiple…

Tupi13

ananas

The world calls the pineapple ananas; only English…

beiju

Cassava flour pressed onto a hot stone has fed the…

canjica

Sweetened white corn simmered in milk is the taste of…

guaraná

Named after the Guaraní people of the Amazon, whose…

ipekaaguéne

Ipecac is the root of a small Brazilian forest plant…

jabuticaba

A Brazilian fruit tree keeps a Tupi name the colonists…

ka'apiûara

The world's largest rodent — the size of a Labrador…

piaçaba

piassava

A broom fiber named itself. Europe imported the…

pira sainha

pirá sainha

The fish that bites — named in Amazonian Tupi for its…

çariama

seriema

The screaming grassland bird kept its Tupi name after…

taíra

tayra

A rainforest hunter kept its Indigenous name while…

tipi'óka

Tapioca is the starchy residue of the cassava root —…

tukana

The toucan takes its name from the sound it makes —…

New Latin12

abacomancy

The counting board and the divination board were once…

America

america

A German cartographer in 1507 gave Amerigo Vespucci's…

Cnidaria

cnidaria

The phylum named for the stinging nettle contains the…

Dahlia

A Swedish botanist named a Mexican flower after a…

erythrocytes

The red cells carrying your oxygen were named in Greek…

Freesia

A German botanist named one of the world's most…

Ipomoea

ipomoea

A worm gave morning glories their scientific name in…

ovulation

Every human birth begins with a word coined only in…

sarcomere

The smallest unit of muscle contraction is named for a…

synovium

A sixteenth-century alchemist named this joint…

syphilis

A shepherd cursed in a poem gave medicine its most…

xeroderma

A Greek compound for dry skin became dermatology's…

Hawaiian11

ʻōlelo

'olelo

A Hawaiian word meaning 'language' or 'speech' — the…

ʻukulele

'ukulele

Portuguese sailors brought the instrument—Hawaiians…

aalii

The aalii survives volcanic ashfall, drought, and…

akule

Hawaii's most ancient school of silver still feeds the…

kahuna

Long before surfers slang-ified it, a kahuna was a…

kapa

Before Western cloth arrived, the entire Hawaiian…

mahiole

Hawaiian chiefs wore feathered helmets that took a…

muʻumuʻu

muumuu

The muumuu was not a Hawaiian invention — it was a…

poke

The global bowl began as a verb for cutting.

pono

A Hawaiian word meaning righteousness, balance,…

pūpū

pu-pu

Hawaiian shellfish became the symbol of American…

Hebrew11

אָמֵן

āmēn

Three letters — Aleph, Mem, Nun — meaning 'firm,…

eruv

A wire strung between telephone poles transforms a…

Ivaan

ivaan

One Hebrew name crossed three continents to arrive in…

Jordan

The river's name means descender, and it earns that…

kibbutz

Jewish pioneers gathered in communal farms to build a…

Palestine

The Philistines gave their name to a land that…

סֶלָה

selah

It appears seventy-one times in the Psalms and three…

שִׁבֹּלֶת

shibbolet

A Hebrew word for a grain stalk became history's most…

תיקון עולם

tikkun olam

Repair of the world. A Jewish concept that humans…

יוֹבֵל

yovel

Every fiftieth year, the ancient Israelites were…

Zion

zion

A single hill in Jerusalem became the name for every…

Vietnamese11

bánh mì

BAN mee

The Vietnamese word for bread is also the word for the…

bánh cuốn

banh cuon

A sheet of steamed rice batter, translucent as morning…

bộ đội

BOH dwee

The Vietnamese term for soldier — used to name the…

đồng

DAWNG

The name of Vietnam's currency is the same word as the…

nón lá

NAWN lah

The conical palm-leaf hat of Vietnam is named for…

nem

NEM

The same three-letter word names a fermented pork…

Nguyễn

nguyen

Vietnam's most common surname belonged to the dynasty…

nước mắm

NOOK mahm

The fermented fish sauce that defines Vietnamese…

áo dài

OW die

Vietnam's national costume is named for something…

Tonkin

tonkin

Hanoi's old throne name became the world's label for…

xích lô

Vietnam's iconic three-wheeled bicycle taxi — the xích…

Scottish Gaelic11

cabar

The caber is the massive stripped tree trunk thrown…

càrn

A heap of stones stacked on a Scottish hilltop to mark…

claidheamh mòr

Scotland's most iconic weapon is named with…

clann

A Gaelic word for 'children' that reorganized how the…

clàrsach

clarsach

The old Scottish harp kept its Gaelic name after its…

coire

The cauldron-shaped hollows carved into Scottish…

loch

The Scottish word for a lake — with its guttural final…

plaide

plaid

The tartan-patterned fabric that now covers everything…

ptarmigan

A silent mountain bird was burdened with a fake Greek…

sporran

A purse on the front of a kilt is older than the kilt…

triubhas

The close-fitting tartan leg-coverings of the Scottish…

Hungarian11

cimbalom

A royal instrument took its English name from a…

csákó

The tall cylindrical military cap that defined the…

dolmány

The braided hussar jacket that became the most…

gulyás

gúlyás (cattle herder)

Goulash comes from the cattle herders of the Hungarian…

huszár

Light cavalry that galloped from Hungary across every…

kocsi

Every Uber, every sports mentor, every bus you've ever…

paprikás

paprikash

An adjective for peppery escaped the kitchen and…

tarhonya

These tiny pasta grains may remember Persian trade.

tokaji

Louis XIV called it 'the wine of kings, the king of…

verbunkos

An army recruitment dance became a national sound.

vizsla

The golden-rust hunting dog that aristocrats of the…

Thai11

ฝรั่ง

farang

Thailand calls guavas and Westerners by the same word.…

กระทง

grà-tong

Every November full moon, millions of Thais release a…

กะเทย

kathoey

A Thai word once meant intersex before modern cities…

ละคร

lakorn

A palace theatre word became the global label for Thai…

น้ำปลา

nám-plaa

Thailand's fish sauce is named with elegant simplicity…

panaeng

A curry named after an island that may have never…

สยาม

siam

A vanished state name still lives in cats, twins, and…

ส้มตำ

sôm-tam

Thailand's most beloved street food has a name that is…

ศรีราชา

sriracha

A coastal town became a global condiment before most…

ตะไคร้

takhrai

The herb that defines Thai cuisine has a Thai name no…

ไหว้

wâi

The pressed-palm greeting that travelers learn on…

Ancient Egyptian10

ꜣbw

abu

The English word for elephant tusk may descend from…

hbnj

hebnij

Ebony — the densest, darkest wood in the world — was…

hbj

heby

The ibis — the long-billed wading bird of the Nile…

hotep

Strangely, this greeting began as an Egyptian word for…

iteru

The world's most famous river bears a name whose…

mer

The most recognizable structures on earth may have…

mesdemet

Long before cosmetics became a beauty industry,…

nṯr.y

netjery

Natron — the salt that preserved the pharaohs' bodies…

qmꜣ.t

qemat

The sticky resin that Egyptians harvested from acacia…

𓋹

ꜥnḫ

The ankh — the cross with a loop at the top — was the…

Wolof9

ቦንግስ

bouye

The baobab tree—called 'bouye' in Wolof—can live two…

ceebu jën

The alternate Wolof spelling of Senegal's…

ceebu jën

Senegal's national dish—rice with fish, red tomato…

hipi

A Wolof word meaning to open one's eyes — to see…

Jolof

jollof

A kingdom became dinner and started arguments.

jollof rice

A medieval West African empire dissolved but its name…

maafe

Wolof kitchens turned a trade-route stew into…

wolof

The language and people of Senegal, whose words gave…

yassa

Senegal's most-copied dish is named for the citrus…

Welsh9

corgi

A 'dwarf dog' from Wales conquered Buckingham Palace —…

cwm

This three-letter word without a single conventional…

cwrwgl

The coracle is one of the oldest watercraft designs in…

eisteddfod

eye-STETH-vod

Wales has kept its poets in competition for over five…

gwlanen

One of the few Welsh words to conquer the world—a…

hiraeth

heer-eyeth

Hiraeth is routinely described as untranslatable — a…

cromlech

KROM-lek

The Neolithic chambered tombs of Britain and Brittany…

Lloyd

A Welsh word for the color grey became one of…

tad

TAD

The most ordinary word a child speaks for its father…

Kimbundu8

Angola

angola

A royal title misread as a place name became a country.

calulu

An Angolan okra stew crossed the Atlantic and never…

funje

Angola's daily staple is a cassava porridge older than…

makumba

macumba

A ritual term crossed the Atlantic and became both…

milonga

A Bantu word crossed the Atlantic and helped teach…

kilombo

quilombo

A war camp word became the name of freedom settlements.

quindim

Brazil's golden custard carries a word from Angola in…

semba

A Kimbundu word for the navel-bump — the moment when…

Malayalam8

അപ്പം

appam

A simple word for bread became dozens of South Indian…

കേരളം

Kerala

Emperor Ashoka carved the name 'Keralaputra' into…

കൊപ്പര

koppara

The dried heart of the coconut — and the word that…

Malabar

malabar

A coastline became an adjective, a spice brand, and…

പായസം

payasam

A dessert word began as a Sanskrit word for milk, not…

talipot

One palm leaf shelters twelve people and outlasts a…

tekka

The wood that built the British Empire came with its…

തോരൻ

thoran

A humble coconut stir-fry carries a very old Dravidian…

Romani8

baro

The Romani word for 'big' or 'great' traveled from…

chal

The Romani word for a young man — chal — carries…

chiv

chiv / chivomengro

The prison slang for a makeshift knife is one of…

gorgio

gorgio / gadjo

The Romani word for a non-Romani person—the settled…

hotchiwitchi

The hedgehog has a name in Romani — hotchiwitchi —…

kushti

Sanskrit's word for skilled traveled with the Romani…

Rom

The name that an entire people gave themselves simply…

stariben

stariben / sturiben

The British slang for prison—as in 'stir-crazy'—is…

Latin (from Greek)

barca

A word that has meant 'boat' in some form for three…

cuprum

The metal is named after the island of Cyprus, which…

encaustum

The word for the liquid that carries every written…

garum

The Roman Empire ran on a fermented fish sauce so…

gubernātor

The word comes from the Greek for 'helmsman' — a…

hōra

hora

An hour was never sixty minutes in the ancient world —…

pantomimus

Pantomime comes from the Greek for 'imitating…

syncopatio

syncopātiō

The Greek word for 'cutting short' — a medical term…

Javanese

ꦒꦩꦺꦭꦤ꧀

gamelan

Gamelan is the name for the bronze percussion…

kendang

A drum gave Java one of its most ceremonial words.

kris

keris / kris

The keris is a Javanese asymmetric dagger whose wavy…

lahar

Lahar is a Javanese word for the volcanic mudflows…

lontong

Lontong is rice made dense enough to slice with a knife

petis

A paste so dark it looks like midnight, born on the…

saron

One of Java's clearest metal voices has a name as old…

wayang

Before cinema, before television, there was a leather…

Mandarin Chinese8

黄酒

huangjiu

China's amber wine was old before Confucius drank it.

胡同

hutong

A street word likely rode in with empire and stayed…

ketou

The deepest bow of the Chinese court—forehead touching…

凉皮

liangpi

Cold wheat sheets from Shaanxi have been eaten since…

麻辣

mala

Two sensations nobody sought to combine became…

面子

Miànzi

Mianzi — social face, the public prestige that can be…

南京

Nánjīng

A naturally yellow cotton cloth that carried an…

衙門

yamen

An English word for bureaucracy began as a gate.

Guaraní

akuti

agouti

One of South America's commonest rodents reached…

chip'á

The Guaraní word for a cheese bread became so tied to…

coatí

coati

This animal is named for its nose, not its tail.

jabiru

A giant stork in South America gave Europe one of its…

Paraguay

The river the Guaraní called 'crowned' now names a…

tereré

Cold yerba mate, Paraguay's liquid inheritance. A word…

Uruguay

A freshwater mussel named a river, and a river named a…

Catalan

barceloneta

Barcelona built a new neighborhood in 1753 to house…

butifarra

Catalonia's defining sausage has a name nobody has…

Eixample

eixample

Barcelona's famous grid district takes its name from a…

ensaimada

Mallorca's coiled pastry carries its defining…

fuet

Catalan's thinnest sausage borrows its name from…

sardana

A circle dance claimed many origins. The sardana is…

sobrasada

Mallorca named its most famous sausage after its own…

Irish Gaelic7

bróg

The word for a type of shoe became the word for an…

eiscir

A gravel ridge formed under a glacier gave Irish…

Fenian

fenian

A band of mythic warriors became the name of a real…

poitín

The world's most dangerous spirits have the most…

sail éille

A walking stick from one Irish village became the…

sionnachuighim

Every mischievous trick, every playful deception in…

smidirín

Blown to tiny pieces — the Irish diminutive that…

Brazilian Portuguese

cachaça

cachaca

Brazil's national spirit began as a rough byproduct…

cafuné

cafune

Brazilian Portuguese has a dedicated word for the act…

caipirinha

Brazil's national cocktail is named after the…

caracara

This raptor is named by imitation. The bird cried…

cocada

One coconut candy holds three centuries of the…

feijoada

Brazil's national dish began as slave food — the parts…

moqueca

A Tupi fish-smoking rack became Brazil's most bitterly…

Inuktitut7

ᐃᒡᓗ

iglu

The Inuit word for 'house' was narrowed by English…

inuksuk

The stone figure that acts as a human surrogate on the…

kamik

The traditional skin boot of the eastern Arctic Inuit…

piblokto

pibloktoq

A mysterious condition observed in Arctic communities…

qamutiik

The Inuit dogsled — a platform of bone and driftwood…

ᕿᒻᒥᖅ

qimmiq

The Inuktitut word for dog — the original Canadian…

qulliq

The shallow stone lamp that burned seal oil and heated…

Urdu6

amildar

A Mughal tax official whose Arabic title survived…

بقرخانی

bakarkhani

A Mughal nobleman's name may be baked into every layer…

انقلاب

inqilab

A word for overturning planets became a cry for…

izzat

An Arabic word for divine power became South Asia's…

mutsuddy

A Bengal accountant carried his Arabic title through…

शिकारा

shikara

A hunting word became a boat. Kashmir kept the irony…

Taíno6

caimán

caiman

Europe learned this reptile's name from the Caribbean…

casabe

Columbus tasted this flatbread in 1492, and its name…

cay

A tiny island gave English one of its shortest travel…

Haiti

haiti

Haiti kept its indigenous name when it became the…

hurakán

The god of storms from the Caribbean gave his name to…

Jamaica

A Taíno word outlasted every empire that tried to…

Classical Nahuatl6

calpolli

Surprisingly, calpolli was a house-group before it was…

chalchihuitl

For the Aztecs, jade outranked gold in every register…

memela

An Oaxacan corn cake that traveled to Los Angeles…

octli

The drink that fed gods and fueled empire long before…

teonanácatl

teonanacatl

The Aztecs named their sacred mushroom the flesh of…

tlacoyo

This stuffed corn oval fed Aztec markets centuries…

Bengali5

Alipore

An Arabic name met a Sanskrit city-word in Bengal and…

ভদ্রলোক

bhadralok

A word for "gentlefolk" became the name for a class…

জুট

juṭ

A Bengali word for "twisted" became the name of the…

মিষ্টি দই

mishti doi

Bengal's sweetest yogurt was born from clay, milk, and…

rasmalai

Two Sanskrit words dissolved in sugar syrup became…

Chinese

Annam

annam

China named Vietnam's heartland Pacified South in 679…

包

bao

A verb meaning "to wrap" became a global street-food…

蠶 / 蚕

cán

China kept the secret of silk production for at least…

絲

sī

A Chinese word for the thread drawn from a silkworm's…

丝

sī

The thread that built the longest trade route in human…

Maori

aroha

The deepest word in Maori for love contains, at its…

haka

The haka is not a war dance — it is a declaration, a…

hāngi

hangi

The Maori earth oven — stones heated in fire, food…

pounamu

The Maori word for New Zealand nephrite jade names a…

tuatara

The tuatara has been called a living fossil — but the…

Gujarati5

avadavat

A red finch named after the Indian city that sold it…

dhokla

Dhokla fermented in Gujarat for seven centuries before…

fafda

No Gujarati Dussehra morning is complete without fafda…

હડતાળ

hartal

A market shutdown became a language of mass politics.

khandvi

Khandvi is a four-ingredient dish whose entire…

Modern Latin, named for a person

begonia

bih-GOH-nee-ə

A flower named not for its appearance, its scent, or…

feijoa

A South American fruit is named for a Portuguese…

forsythia

for-SY-thee-ə

Every March, millions of suburban gardens briefly turn…

gardenia

gar-DEE-nee-ə

A flower named for a physician who never saw it bloom…

zinnia

ZIN-ee-ə

A wildflower from the Mexican plateau, named for a…

Punjabi5

ਭੰਗੜਾ

bhaṅgṛā

A harvest dance from the wheat fields of Punjab became…

ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ

gurduārā

A Punjabi word for "gateway to the guru" became the…

ਲੱਸੀ

lassi

The ancient churned-yogurt drink of the Punjab —…

tikka

A Punjabi word for a small piece crossed two oceans to…

tikka masala

Half the name is Turkic, half Arabic, and the dish may…

Irish5

bogach

Bog is an Irish word for the soft, waterlogged ground…

craic

Craic names the irreducible Irish quality of lively,…

geis

gesh

A geis was a magical prohibition or obligation laid…

síbín

shebeen

An illegal pub word from Ireland became township…

tory

A hunted outlaw gave Britain one of its grandest…

Kannada5

bonda

Bonda is round by name, a Dravidian word for the ball…

ಇಡ್ಲಿ

idli

One of India's softest foods has a hard medieval paper…

ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ

kannaḍiga

The Kannada word for a Kannada speaker — Kannaḍiga —…

ಕೊಡಗು

koḍagu

A Kannada word for a region became the name for a…

ರಾಗಿ

ragi

A millet name survived modernization while many old…

Rioplatense Spanish

che

A two-letter interjection became the most recognizable…

choripán

choripan

Two words, one grill, and a sandwich that became…

matambre

The word means kill hunger, and on the pampas it did…

panqueques

A British pancake, respelled and thinned, conquered…

tuco-tuco

tucutuco

An underground rodent is named for the sound it makes,…

Cantonese

長衫

chèuhngsāam

The form-fitting silk dress that Western fashion…

chop-chop

A Cantonese urgency echoed twice, pressed into English…

litchi

A fruit so prized in Han China, emperors had it…

paktong

Chinese metallurgists smelted nickel-silver alloy…

siu mei

siu-mei

Cantonese roasters turned an imperial court technique…

Kikongo5

goombay

A Caribbean drum word still carries the Atlantic…

likembe

A thumb piano is named like a noun class lesson.

lu-fuki

Funk began as a Kikongo word for the smell of honest…

minkisi

Sacred figures from the Congo became the most…

tota

An enslaved people's word for carrying became the name…

Hindi/Urdu from Persian

जिमखाना

jimkhānā

Gymkhana — now meaning a horse-riding competition or a…

पायजामा

pāyjāmā

The British went to India, saw comfortable trousers,…

सरदार

sardār

A Persian word for chieftain climbed the Himalayas and…

शिकार

śikār

The British turned a Persian word for hunting into the…

सिपाही

sipāhī

The word for an Indian soldier in the British army…

Hokkien5

kiasuness

Singapore's most efficient word names a fear, not a…

kueh

Singapore's colonial-era spelling of a Hokkien…

kutsinta

A sticky orange rice cake carries six centuries of…

popiah

A Fujian thin cracker that crossed the South China Sea…

豆芽

taugeh

A Hokkien bean sprout that feeds half of Southeast…

Burmese

လုံချည်

longyi

Half the population of Myanmar wraps a single tube of…

lungyis

Myanmar's national garment is a tube of cloth that has…

Myanmar

myanmar

The formal Burmese name for their homeland is eight…

သနပ်ခါး

thanakha

Myanmar's most distinctive cosmetic is a paste made…

သနပ်ခါး

thanakha

For two thousand years, Burmese children have worn…

Aymara

achachilas

In Aymara cosmology, mountains are not geology. They…

pachamanca

Earth itself is the pot in this ancient Andean feast.

siku

The Andes made harmony from two incomplete instruments.

Tinku

tinku

In the Bolivian Andes, communities gather to fight…

English from Latin

& (per se and)

and per se and

The & symbol was once the 27th letter of the English…

incunabula

Books printed before 1501 have their own collective…

compositor

kəm-POZ-ih-tər

The craftsman who set type by hand — picking…

trident

TRY-dent

Three teeth — the weapon of the sea god became the…

Khmer

អប្សរា

apsara

The celestial dancers carved into the walls of Angkor…

ភ្នំ

phnom

The Khmer word for 'hill' built a city—and then its…

សំពត់

sampot

The Khmer wrapped garment — the sampot — appears on…

អង្គរ

ʾɑŋkɔː

The word angkor — which names the largest religious…

Old Persian

Armenia

armenia

The name Armenia never belonged to Armenians: Persians…

Persian

persian

Persia named itself after a small southern province,…

خشتراپاون

xšaçapāvan

Old Persian xšaçapāvan meant 'protector of the realm'…

xshathrapavan

The satrap was a Persian provincial governor — and the…

Lao4

ບາສີ

baci

A ceremony became a word. The word still tries to call…

ບາສີ

basi

The Lao baci ceremony ties cotton threads around a…

ແຄນ

khaen

A bamboo mouth organ crossed borders more easily than…

ສິ້ນ

sin

The Lao women's skirt — the sinh — is a single piece…

Telugu4

దాల్

dal

Split lentils that form the backbone of South Asian…

gallu

Strangely enough, gallu began as a word for stone.

முங்கூஸ்

muṅkūs

The small, quick, fearless serpent-killer — and the…

పందికొక్కు

pandikokku

How a Telugu pig-rat crossed oceans and lent its name…

Malay/Javanese

banteng

The wild ox of Java was domesticated thousands of…

gong

The bronze disc that ends every dramatic scene has a…

keris

The kris is a wavy-bladed dagger from Southeast Asia —…

salak

The snake fruit of Java gets its English nickname from…

Marathi4

bhajji

Bhajji names the act of eating before it names the…

Dadar

dadar

Mumbai's busiest railway junction takes its name from…

Powai

powai

A fishermen's creek became Mumbai's technology…

वडा

vada

A fried snack became a city identity faster than most…

Ukrainian4

біфштек

bifshtek

An English beefsteak survived four languages to become…

борщ

borshch

A humble beet soup became a battlefield—its name now…

борщ

borshch

A beet soup became the most politically charged bowl…

varenyky

Ukraine's national dumpling owes its name to a single…

Hausa4

boko

A Hausa word meaning fake or fraudulent may have…

kilishi

Northern Nigeria's answer to jerky is older than the…

suya

Hausa cattle traders invented this spiced skewer…

waakye

Ghana's most beloved street food borrowed its name…

English (uncertain origin)

bungy

The elastic cord that lets you fall from bridges may…

ketch

The two-masted sailing vessel that became the workboat…

mandrill

The most colorful mammal on earth got a name that…

scupper

The drain hole in a ship's side that lets water run…

Turkic

буран

buran

The same steppe storm named a Soviet space shuttle.

кымыз

qımız

Fermented mare's milk, the drink that sustained…

шашлык

shashlyk

One skewer dish kept two spellings and doubled its…

Uzbekistan

A country named for one medieval khan who became an…

Spanish from Latin

cabana

From medieval huts to poolside luxury — the humble…

ejido

After a revolution that cost a million lives, Mexico…

hacienda

A word for "things to be done" became the name for an…

pueblo

Spanish colonizers used one word — pueblo, people —…

English (origin uncertain)

cantilever

A cantilever is a beam that sticks out into empty air…

kazoo

The kazoo is the only instrument that can be played by…

nog

Eggnog is two mystery words stuck together — nobody is…

Shandygaff

shandygaff

Nobody knows where the word shandygaff came from,…

Akkadian4

kharrūbu

khar-ROO-boo

The pod that health food shops sell as a chocolate…

𒅗𒊭𒋾

kunuk

The cylinder seal was the signature of ancient…

saqqu

SAK-koo

The humble cloth bag — carried to markets, filled with…

Sumerian

sumerian

The Akkadians named their neighbors, and that name…

English from Taíno

kasabi

cassava

The Taíno's staple root crop now feeds 800 million…

iwana

iguana

The Taíno name for their largest lizard became the…

mahiz

maize

The Taíno word for the Americas' most important crop…

sabana

savannah

The Taíno word for their treeless plains became the…

Chinese (Mandarin)4

茶

chá

One plant, one Chinese character, two pronunciations —…

普洱

puer

China's most time-sensitive tea is the only one…

人蔘

rénshēn

A root shaped like a human body became Asia's most…

上海

Shànghǎi

When English speakers say someone has been…

Hindi/Sanskrit4

चीता

cītā

The fastest land animal on Earth has a Sanskrit name…

जंगल

jangal

In Hindi it meant dry wasteland. English made it mean…

करोड़

karod

Ten million needed a name. India gave it one that…

लाख

lākh

A word for "hundred thousand" became the marker of…

Hindi from Sanskrit

चिट्ठी

ciṭṭhī

Chit — a short note, a signed voucher, a brief written…

देखो

dekho

Dekko — British slang for 'a look' or 'a glance' — is…

पाँच

pāñc

The drink named for 'five' ingredients became a party…

पापड़

pāpaṛ

The thin crispy wafer that starts every Indian meal —…

Georgian4

ჩურჩხელა

churchkhela

Georgian warriors carried these candle-shaped strings…

მწვადი

mtsvadi

Georgia's answer to the shish kebab predates the…

საწივი

satsivi

Georgia's signature cold walnut sauce transforms a…

tabaka

A Georgian pressed chicken technique named for the…

Dharug (Australian Aboriginal)

corroboree

The English settlers who watched with bewilderment…

wallaby

A word that names dozens of distinct species, used by…

wombat

A burrowing marsupial so anatomically extreme — with a…

woomera

A spear-throwing device that multiplied human arm…

Italian (from Latin)

cupola

A little cup turned upside down became the crown of…

diva

Diva is the Italian word for a goddess — it was…

novella

The word for the most popular literary form on earth…

rotunda

A rotunda is a circular building or room covered by a…

Hindi / Sanskrit

धोती

dhoti

The cloth that Gandhi chose over the suit was not…

घी

ghī (Hindi) / ghṛta (Sanskrit)

Clarified butter distilled to its essence — the…

कथक

kathak

From the Sanskrit katha, meaning 'story' — a North…

साड़ी

sari

A single unstitched length of cloth -- no needle, no…

Tahitian

haka

The Tahitian haka is a ceremonial dance performed at…

motu

A small island on the reef — separated from the main…

tapa

Europe learned this cloth from the wrong island and…

Tuamotus

tuamotus

The world's largest atoll chain takes its name from…

Polish4

hetman

A German captain crossed Slavic frontiers and became a…

mazurek

A peasant dance from Mazovia — Poland's broad central…

pierogi

Pierogi — Poland's filled dumplings — carry a name…

złoty

zloty

Poland's money is simply called the golden one.

Cantonese Chinese4

大班

daai baan (Cantonese) / dà bān (Mandarin)

In 19th-century Canton, the Cantonese called the…

行

hong

A single Chinese syllable once ran the foreign trade…

龍眼

lung ngaan (Cantonese) / lóng yǎn (Mandarin)

The dragon's eye: peel back the thin shell and a…

堂

tong

A word for a hall became a word for a gang.

English from Swahili (Bantu)

kanga

KAH-ngah

A rectangle of printed cotton that East African women…

mzungu

mm-ZUNG-oo

The Swahili word for 'wanderer' became the word for…

pole pole

POH-lay POH-lay

The two most important words on Mount Kilimanjaro are…

shamba

SHAHM-bah

The Swahili word for a small farm or garden holds…

Hokkien Chinese4

ketchup

kê-tsiap

Fish sauce from Fujian became America's favorite…

pancit

Filipino noodles carry a Hokkien phrase meaning simply…

twakow

Singapore's river commerce ran on these flat-bottomed…

烏龍

wū lóng (Mandarin) / ū-liông (Hokkien)

A black dragon coils inside your teacup — the name for…

Mapudungun

kultrun

The sacred drum of the Mapuche people. A flat,…

machitun

A Mapuche healing ceremony named after the healer who…

nguillatun

The sacred ceremony where the Mapuche people gather to…

Toqui

toqui

The Mapuche war chief carried a stone axe as…

Sanskrit/Hindi

महारानी

mahārānī

The feminine form of maharajah entered English not…

पंचायत

pañcāyat

India's oldest form of local government is named after…

पण्डित

paṇḍit

The Sanskrit word for 'learned one' became English's…

रुपया

rupayā

The coin that financed the British Empire in South…

Arabic via Spanish

القبة

al-qubba

The cozy reading nook in your apartment is named after…

الطوب

aṭ-ṭūb

Sun-dried mud bricks that built civilizations — and…

Šereš / Xérès

Sheresh / Jerez

Sherry—the fortified wine of southern Spain—is simply…

Pashto

afghan

The word for your grandmother's crocheted blanket…

اتن

attan

The national dance of Afghanistan has no single…

لویہ جرگہ

loya jirga

For centuries, Pashtuns have gathered in grand…

French (from Latin)

armoire

The tall wardrobe that holds clothing was originally…

ponton

A pontoon is a floating bridge that armies have been…

tarsier

A primate with eyes bigger than its brain was named…

Old High German

Austria

austria

Austria's name is a 996 AD deed that turned a…

Luxembourg

luxembourg

A fortress named in 963 grew into a dynasty, a duchy,…

Luxembourg City

A count's small castle became a name that outlasted…

Yucatec Maya3

Belize

A muddy river gave its name to a nation.

sacbé

sak beh

Ancient Maya cities were connected by perfectly…

ts'onot

Sacred sinkholes where the Maya spoke to their gods —…

Hindi/Marathi

भाजी

bhājī

The deep-fried vegetable fritter that became a British…

डुंगरी

Dungri

A coarse cloth named for a neighborhood in Bombay —…

ठग

ṭhag

A religious cult of highway murderers gave English its…

Yuwaalaraay3

bilby

Australia's Easter challenger is named in a language…

gulabaa

coolabah

The tree under which Banjo Paterson's swagman camped…

malga

mulga

The Aboriginal name for a tough inland acacia became…

Afrikaans from Dutch

boerewors

South African farmer's sausage. Coiled beef-and-spice,…

braai

South African barbecue, from Dutch braden 'to roast.'…

trek

Boer farmers named their ox-wagon migrations—and gave…

Oromo

Borana

The Borana Oromo are a pastoral subgroup of the Oromo…

ግዳ

gadaa

The Oromo people of Ethiopia developed a democratic…

ዖዳ

odaa

The sycamore fig tree is sacred to the Oromo people.…

Portuguese / Spanish

brisa

The word for a gentle wind came to English through…

caramelo

A word that may trace back to Latin for a small reed…

casta

A Portuguese word for racial purity of breeding gave…

Spanish (from Latin)

caldera

A caldera is the vast circular depression left after a…

fiesta

The Latin word for a religious holiday became the…

lazo

A Roman snare became a cowboy's signature tool — and…

English (place name)

Cheddar

cheddar

A village in Somerset gave its name to the most widely…

Derby

The twelfth Earl of Derby started a horse race in 1780…

Rugby

In 1823, a schoolboy at Rugby School allegedly picked…

Dharug (Aboriginal Australian)

cooee

The long, rising call used to attract attention across…

koala

The marsupial that sleeps twenty hours a day and…

kurrajong

The fibrous-barked tree whose inner bark was twisted…

Purépecha3

corunda

A triangular tamale from Michoacán that has never left…

huarache

A sandal gave its name to a street food shaped like a…

uchepo

Michoacán's fresh corn tamal carries a name older than…

Hindi (from Sanskrit)

धोबी

dhobī (Hindi)

The washerman who kept the British Empire in clean…

खिचड़ी

khicṛī (Hindi) / khichdi

The simple Indian comfort food of rice and lentils…

महावत

mahāvat (Hindi) / mahāmātra (Sanskrit)

The elephant trainer who could redirect a…

Greek (modern coinage)

δεινόσαυρος

deinósauros

Richard Owen needed a name for the terrible,…

ὁρμῶν

hormōn

Hormone was coined in 1905 from the Greek for 'setting…

φωτογραφία

phōtographía

The word means 'light writing' — and the earliest…

Middle Dutch / Low German

docke

A word borrowed from Dutch harbor workers — possibly…

knack

A sharp crack, a snap of the fingers, a click of…

smelt

The word for extracting metal from ore by fire — and…

Italian (Venetian)

ducato

The most trusted coin in medieval Europe was named not…

laguna

Venice gave the world a word for the shallow waters…

luganega

Cicero wrote about this sausage two thousand years…

Javanese / Malay

dukun

The Malay word for a traditional healer who works at…

pesantren

The Islamic boarding school that has educated Javanese…

tempeh

tempe

A cake of soybeans bound by white fungal threads,…

Anglo-Norman French3

embrouder

Embroidery is painting with thread — the Bayeux…

eschequier

The British treasury got its name from a checkered…

ordinance

The English word for military weapons is a spelling…

Igbo

eze

The Igbo people organized without kingdoms—until…

ọgbanje

ogbanje

A dead child kept returning, and language built a name…

oyibo

Igbo speakers named Europeans by what their skin…

Samoan

fale

A Samoan house has no walls, just posts and a roof.…

Samoa

samoa

Samoa likely embeds a sacred prefix that Samoan still…

tatau

The English word for permanent ink marks on skin comes…

English from French

farrier

The person who shoes a horse carries a title whose…

orangerie

The orangery — that long glass-fronted room on the…

Robin

robin

A bird named after a man named Robert — and how a…

Twi3

fufu

One of West Africa's great staple foods is named by a…

kelewele

Spiced fried plantain takes a name built from the…

kontomire

A taro leaf that crossed three oceans feeds half of…

English (American)

gulch

Nobody knows where the word gulch came from. It…

lynch

A Virginia magistrate who bypassed the courts during…

switchel

Before Gatorade, American farmers drank a…

Kimbundu (Angola)

kingombo

A Bantu word for okra became Louisiana's signature…

kizomba

Kizomba means party or celebration in Kimbundu — the…

semba

Semba is the original Angolan dance from which samba…

Rapa Nui

hare-paenga

Easter Island's boat-shaped houses looked like…

moʻai

moai

The stone figures of Easter Island are not anonymous…

rongorongo

Easter Island's undeciphered script — one of the few…

English (compound)

hummingbird

The hummingbird is named for the sound its wings make…

manslaughter

Manslaughter is the Anglo-Saxon word for killing that…

watercolour

Watercolor is the only major painting medium named for…

Latin from Greek

hypocaustum

hypocaust

Two thousand years before underfloor heating became a…

topiarius

The art of clipping living plants into geometric…

triclinium

Romans did not sit at dinner — they reclined. The…

Tupi-Guaraní3

jaguara

"The beast that kills in one leap"—South America's…

paka'rana

pacarana

This giant rodent is named as a counterfeit of another…

yacarandá

Jacaranda is a tree that turns streets violet for…

Nyungar (Aboriginal Australian)

jarrah

The towering hardwood tree whose timber built colonial…

karri

The third-tallest tree species on Earth — a…

quokka

The small, smiling marsupial of Rottnest Island — the…

English from Arabic

خات

khat

East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula have chewed this…

موسم

mawsim

Arab sailors named the seasons of wind. The word…

shroff

A banker's title crossed empires and came back…

Low German / Dutch

knappen + zak

The knapsack is literally a 'snap-sack' — a bag for…

smokkelen

The word for moving goods secretly through customs…

smuggelen

Smuggler comes from a Low German or Dutch word meaning…

Fijian

lali

A slit drum carved from a single tree trunk, the lali…

sevusevu

The Fijian ceremony of presenting kava (yaqona) root,…

sulu

A wrapped garment traveled Polynesia as itself. The…

Latin (via Old French)

ministerialis

ministeriālis

The word started as a Latin term for a servant, became…

minutia

minūtia

To mince means to cut very small — the word comes from…

page

The flat surface on which you read these words was…

Tagalog (Filipino)

sinigang

Sinigang is a Filipino sour soup — pork ribs, shrimp,…

tinola

Tinola is a Filipino chicken-ginger soup so culturally…

ube

Ube is a Filipino purple yam that is naturally,…

Brazilian Portuguese from Tupi

açaí

acai

The Amazonian palm berry that fueled indigenous…

carioca

Carioca means someone from Rio de Janeiro — and it…

Akan

kusimanse

cusimanse

An African mongoose reached English under its Twi name…

nkra

The visual symbols used by the Akan people of Ghana…

English from Old English

adese

adze

The adze is the oldest shaping tool in human history —…

broadcast

Before it meant sending signals through the air,…

Zulu (South African)

amapiano

Amapiano means 'the pianos' in Zulu — a South African…

gqom

Gqom — pronounced 'gome' or 'gorm' in approximation —…

Akan (Twi)

Anansi

Anansi is the Akan spider-god who tricked the sky-god…

sankofa

The Akan symbol of a bird reaching backward to take an…

Filipino (Tagalog)

atchara

The Philippines' most beloved pickle carries a Persian…

balut

A street food wrapped in newspaper, sold at night —…

Nahuatl (Aztec)

āhuacatl

ahuacatl

Named for what it looks like—and yes, that means what…

tomatl

Europeans were convinced it was poison—now it's the…

Thai from Sanskrit

บาท

bàat

Thailand's currency takes its name from an ancient…

สตางค์

sà-taang

Thailand's smallest denomination — one hundredth of a…

Italian via French

balaustrata

The elegant railing along grand staircases takes its…

facciata

The front of a building shares its root with the human…

English from Hindi

बांधना

bāndhnā

The Hindi word for 'to tie' became a piece of cloth…

shampoo

An Indian head massage became a bottle of chemicals.

Ga (Ghanaian)

banku

Banku is fermented corn and cassava dough, cooked into…

kenkey

Kenkey is Ghanaian fermented corn dough wrapped in…

Taíno via Spanish

barbacoa

The wooden frame for cooking meat became a global…

hamaca

Columbus found the Taíno sleeping in hanging nets —…

Choctaw2

bayuk

A Choctaw word for a slow-moving creek became the soul…

Cherokee

Cherokee is a Choctaw name for a people who never…

Scottish English2

black mail

Blackmail has nothing to do with letters. The 'mail'…

car fuffle

The most politely British word for a commotion is…

French from Latin

bombazine

Queen Victoria wore bombazine for forty years of…

terrasse

The word for a raised outdoor platform comes from the…

Australian English

bonzer

Australian goldfields produced one of the language's…

shickered

Hebrew Scripture's word for Noah's disgrace became…

Alsatian French

Bretzel

bretzel

The pretzel's oldest name was Latin for little arms.

quetsche

A purple Alsatian plum traveled from Damascus to…

English (eponym)

Brougham

A Scottish lord redesigned the horse-drawn carriage to…

Shrapnel

One of the few words in English named after a weapons…

Yagara

bung

Australian English learned broken from an Aboriginal…

umpee

humpy

The Indigenous Australian word for a temporary shelter…

English (South African)

bushbaby

The nocturnal primate that sounds like a human infant…

gumboot

Gumboot dance developed among South African gold…

Vietnamese (from French)

cà phê

KAH feh

The Vietnamese word for coffee is a direct…

xích lô

SIK loh

The three-wheeled pedal rickshaw of Vietnam carries a…

Spanish from Taíno

cacique

Columbus borrowed a Caribbean title and Spain never…

maguey

A Caribbean plant name crossed the sea, then renamed…

Italian (Tuscan)

cantuccini

The diminutive suffix did not make these biscuits…

panzanella

Panzanella is a Tuscan bread salad made from stale…

Latin/English

capax

capacitor

A Latin word for 'holding' became the name for the…

coronation

A flower whose name may descend from the Latin word…

Late Latin2

catechist

Curiously, catechist is the teacher built from the…

compāniō

Your companion is literally someone you share bread…

Tupi (via Portuguese)

kyinha

The fiery pepper that transformed global cuisine…

macavuana

The brilliant parrots whose feathers once served as…

Quechua/Aymara

ch'uñu

The Incas invented freeze-drying a thousand years…

Chakana

chakana

The Andean cross is a stairway to heaven—it points to…

Spanish from Quechua

charango

The small Andean lute was built on the shell of an…

vizcacha

A mountain rodent carries an Andean name through a…

Romani (from Sanskrit)

chavo

chavo / chavi

The most contentious word in British class…

kosh

kosh / koshter

The British slang for a bludgeon—the weapon of…

Carib

chigoe

A Caribbean flea's name crossed the Atlantic long…

manati

The gentle, slow-moving sea cow of the Caribbean and…

Chinese Pidgin English

chin-chin

Chin-chin is the fried dough snack that anchors every…

pidgin

The word for a simplified contact language between…

Old Chinese

Chinese

chinese

The Qin emperor who burned books gave his dynasty's…

Xiongnu

xiongnu

China built a wall against them, and the Romans may…

French (place name)

Cognac

The world's most prestigious brandy is named after a…

Troyes

Gold and silver are weighed in troy ounces — named for…

Malayalam / Tamil

சக்காய்

cakkāy

The world's largest tree-borne fruit — and its English…

காயர்

kāyar

The rope that kept spice ships from sinking and now…

Anglo-French2

communer

The word for everyone who is not an aristocrat —…

reregarde

The rearguard is what watches what is behind —…

Old French (from Latin)

composte

The word for rotting vegetable scraps in your backyard…

piré

The alcoholic drink made from pears has existed for at…

English from Dutch

koekje

A Dutch "little cake" became America's favorite…

serif

SEHR-if

The tiny finishing strokes at the ends of letterforms…

Old French from Latin

corvée

For most of human history, the landlord did not need…

dormeor

The window that projects from a sloped roof is named…

Hindi/Urdu

खुशी

khushi

The Hindi word for 'pleasure' became British slang for…

तीनपाई

tīnpāī

A three-legged table had nothing to do with tea — but…

Hindi/Urdu from Sanskrit

डाकू

ḍākū

Dacoit — from Hindi ḍākū, an armed robber who operates…

वाला

vālā

Wallah — the person who does a thing, the one in…

English (surname)

Davenport

The word davenport describes two completely different…

sandwich

The most eaten hand-held food in the world carries the…

English (nautical)

dead reckoning

For centuries, sailors crossing featureless ocean…

knot

A knot is not a distance — it is a speed, one nautical…

Bambara2

jembe

A Bambara phrase meaning 'everyone gather together in…

shea

A butter tree reached English by way of a…

Mande2

dunun

The djundjun (also dunun) is the bass drum of West…

grigri

A Mande word for a protective charm — a small bag of…

Breton2

taol maen

dolmen

The stone table — two or more massive upright slabs…

men hir

A menhir is simply a long stone — men hir in Breton —…

English from Hindi (place name)

देवली

Deolālī

Doolally — meaning slightly mad or eccentric — comes…

जोधपुर

Jodhpur

Jodhpurs — close-fitting riding breeches flared at the…

Jamaican English2

dreadlocks

The word dread once signaled holy terror, not a…

reggae

A slang word for ragged clothes became the name of…

Romani-influenced English

dukkering

Fortune-telling has many names, but dukkering — the…

mush

British English has been quietly using a Romani word…

Spanish/Portuguese

embargo

A word for seizing ships became the weapon of…

mosquito

The deadliest animal on earth has a name that means…

Spanish / Portuguese

escudo

The Spanish and Portuguese word for a shield — escudo,…

rumbo

A rhumb line is the navigator's straight line — a…

Tongan

Fiji

fiji

Fiji is the Tongan pronunciation of a Fijian word that…

Tonga

tonga

Tonga means south, and the kingdom sits exactly where…

Italian from Latin

filigrana

The word for delicate metalwork literally means…

tombolo

When the sea builds a sand bridge between the shore…

Turkish / Persian

ferman

A Persian word meaning 'command' -- the Sultan's…

sipahi

A Persian word for a mounted soldier -- one who serves…

Norwegian2

flo

From the Norwegian word for a flat layer or slab, the…

slalaam

Norwegian farmers racing downhill between obstacles…

English (disputed)

gadget

A word for small mechanical devices that arrived in…

spinnaker

The origin of this billowing downwind sail is one of…

French zoological usage from an African source

galago

A night primate kept its African name and slipped…

turaco

A forest bird in Africa gave Europe a word before…

Wiradjuri2

gang-gang

The bird stuttered once and English decided that was…

quandong

Australia's bright desert peach carries a name older…

Maltese

gbejniet

A sheep's cheese carries Arabic and Sicilian ancestry.…

pastizz

Malta's beloved pastry carries its entire history in…

Arabic/Persian

غزل

ghazal

The most intimate form in Persian poetry — fourteen…

مثنوی

masnavī

The Persian verse form built for long stories used…

Kikuyu

githeri

Boiled maize and beans outlasted colonialism, famine,…

irio

In Kikuyu the word for food became the name of Kenya's…

Khoikhoi2

ǃnù

gnu

English kept the click out and the animal stayed…

kudu

Europe kept the antelope and the local name, then…

Czech2

guláš

gulas

Goulash began as a job title for cattle herdsmen on…

husitský

The followers of a burned Czech preacher gave their…

Amharic / Ge'ez

ሐበሻ

habesha

The word that gave 'Abyssinia' to European maps…

መስቀል

MES-kel

The Ethiopian festival of the True Cross is named from…

Babylonian (Akkadian)

𒄩𒄠𒈬𒊏𒁉

Hammurabi

Hammurabi was a Babylonian king who reigned from 1792…

𒀭𒀫𒌓

Marduk

Marduk rose from a minor deity of a small city to…

Latin (modern coinage)

herba + -cīda

The word for a chemical that kills weeds was coined in…

līminālis

The Latin word for threshold — limen, the wooden beam…

Powhatan (Algonquian)

apassem

Opossum is the first marsupial that European science…

pawcohiccora

Hickory is the only major English tree name derived…

Powhatan Algonquian (Virginia)

hominy

The swollen white corn kernels eaten across the…

pone

The dense, unleavened cornbread eaten across the…

Swahili (from Arabic)

imani

Imani means faith in Swahili, but the word's Arabic…

kanzu

The kanzu is a long white robe worn by Muslim men…

Middle French2

javeline

A Celtic word for a light throwing spear survived…

Perrot

perrot

The English word for the world's most talkative bird…

English from Quechua

ch'arki

charki

The Inca dried llama meat for their armies — and their…

kinwa

quinoa

The Inca's 'mother grain' was nearly forgotten — then…

Northern Sami2

luohti

An ancient Sami singing tradition that turns…

siida

A government once began as a winter camp.

Austrian German

Kaiserschmarrn

kaiserschmarrn

The emperor's mess: a shredded pancake whose name…

Sachertorte

sachertorte

A sixteen-year-old apprentice invented Vienna's most…

Ojibwe2

kinkajou

A wolverine's old name was stolen by a rainforest…

odoodem

The sacred kinship symbol that became the world's word…

Haitian Creole

konpa

kompa

From Spanish compás, the rhythm or beat. In 1955, a…

lakòu

lakou

From French 'the courtyard.' In Haiti, it's much more:…

Low German2

kontor

Oddly, kontor began as a place for counting.

Labskaus

labskaus

A sailor's crimson hash that named an entire city's…

Hindi-Urdu

kulfi

Mughal emperors ate frozen cream pressed into silver…

pukka sahib

pukka-sahib

The British empire coined a phrase for the gentleman…

Noongar2

kylie

A curved stick from Western Australia gave English a…

quenda

One Aboriginal name survived because settlers needed a…

Ottoman Turkish (from Arabic)

lahmacun

A flatbread whose Arabic name survived the Ottoman…

simit

Istanbul's sesame bread ring has been taxed and sold…

Swedish2

Lappland

lappland

Sweden's largest province took its name from people it…

tungsten

Swedish miners named it 'heavy stone' - now it lights…

Spanish (diminutive)

machete

The 'little mallet' that became the essential tool —…

tortilla

The 'little cake' that built civilizations — and…

English (personal name)

mackintosh

The waterproof raincoat is named after a Scottish…

Wellington boot

The waterproof rubber boot worn across muddy fields…

Wemba Wemba2

mallee

A whole Australian landscape is named after a tree…

mia-mia

A temporary shelter outlived the camps that first…

Ojibwe (Algonquian)

manidoo

Manitou names the animating spiritual power that…

wīgiwām

Wigwam entered English from the Ojibwe word for 'their…

Japanese (from Chinese)

円 (圓)

Japan's currency takes its name from the Chinese word…

manju

A Chinese confectioner arrived in Nara in 1349 and…

Marshallese

jebro

The sailing canoe that crossed the Pacific. Built to…

waan aelon

The canoes of the islands. A phrase that became an…

Luganda2

matoke

ma-TOH-kay

The Luganda word for unripe cooking bananas that are…

Uganda

The British named Uganda by dropping the first…

Shona

mbira

The mbira is a thumb piano of extraordinary antiquity…

Zimbabwe

zimbabwe

A Shona word for a chief's stone meeting place became…

Arabic / Urdu

محفل

mehfil

An Arabic word for a circle — a place where people…

مشاعرہ

mushaira

An Arabic word meaning a mutual exchange of poetry — a…

Modern Greek2

μεράκι

meraki

Putting your soul into your work. Leaving a piece of…

Metaxa

metaxa

Spyros Metaxas blended aged brandy with Muscat wine in…

Classical Chinese2

命

mìng

The Chinese character that means both 'fate' and…

五行

Wǔxíng

Wuxing — the Five Phases or Five Movements — is the…

Hawaiian / Proto-Polynesian

moana

A word shared across every Polynesian language meaning…

nui

A word meaning 'great' or 'large' that spans every…

Bantu2

ngoma

A single Bantu word meaning drum, music, dance, and…

nyama

The Bantu word for meat, game, and animal — nyama — is…

Malay / Indonesian

otak-otak

Otak-otak means 'brains brains' in Malay — the fish…

sambal

The fiery chili paste that anchors Indonesian and…

Cueva

Panama

panama

Panama took its name from a Cueva word meaning place…

Panama City

Panama City carries a fish-abundance word from a…

Taino/Arawak

papaya

Caribbean islanders named this fruit before Columbus…

tabaco

tabako

The Taino offered sacred leaves to their gods—and…

Algonquian

papaw

The pawpaw is the largest fruit native to North…

tumpline

The tumpline — a strap worn across the forehead to…

Taino

batata

One Caribbean word for sweet potato became the name…

çauana

The indigenous Taino people of the Caribbean gave the…

Narragansett

poquauhock

quahog

A clam gave English both a food word and part of its…

samp

A Narragansett corn word crossed two oceans to feed…

Malagasy

raffia

A palm-fiber name from Madagascar now wraps gifts…

tanreky

tenrec

A Madagascar insect-eater reached English by losing…

Greek via Latin

Οὐρανός

Ouranos

William Herschel discovered the seventh planet in 1781…

Rhizome

RY-zohm

Beneath every meadow runs a hidden architecture — the…

Swahili from Arabic

safari

A word that meant simply "journey" became a spectacle…

شجاع

shuja'

An Arabic word for courage became the Swahili word for…

Middle Low German

slag

The glassy waste left when ore surrenders its metal —…

trajon

The word 'trade' meant a path or track before it meant…

Narragansett (Algonquian)

askutasquash

Squash — the vegetable — preserves most of the…

msíckquatash

Succotash preserves a Narragansett word for…

Xhosa2

tokoloshe

A nursery terror became an English dictionary word.

umngqusho

Nelson Mandela called this dish his favorite food on…

Afrikaans (from Dutch)

veld

The open grassland that shaped South African identity…

veld

Veldt is the Afrikaans word for 'field' — the open…

Australian Aboriginal

willy-willy

A dust devil learned to whirl in English twice.

yabi

yabby

A creek crayfish gave Australian English one of its…

Rumsen Ohlone

aulon

The iridescent shellfish prized by sushi chefs and…

Greek (from akis, a point or thorn)

ἀκακία

akakia

Acacia comes from the Greek word for a thorn — and the…

French / Italian

accollata

accollāta

Before it meant praise, an accolade was a literal…

Malay (via Persian)

achar

acar

The tangy, spiced pickle served alongside rice and…

Old French (from Medieval Latin)

acquiter

An acquittal — from the Old French for 'to discharge a…

Abkhazian

аджика

ad-ZHEE-ka

A chili paste from the subtropical coast of the Black…

English (from Latin ad + rēnālis)

adrenaline

The hormone is named for where it is made — on top of…

Tigrinya / Amharic

ዓድዋ

Adwa

A town in northern Ethiopia whose name became a word —…

Nigerian English

Afrobeat

A word coined by Fela Kuti to name the music he was…

Guarani

aguara

Aguara is a fox word that ended up naming wolves.

Spanish (from Taíno)

ajiaco

A Caribbean pepper word became the name of two…

Efik

akpan

A firstborn son's title governed trade on the Cross…

Medieval Latin (from Arabic)

alembroth

Paracelsus called this mercury compound the key to all…

French (from Arabic)

Algeria

Algeria is named for islands that no longer exist.

Dioula

alloco

Fried ripe plantain from Abidjan street corners became…

English from Quechua/Aymara

allpaqa

alpaca

The Andean camelid with the softest fiber in the…

Cantonese/Portuguese

阿媽

amah

The word for mother became the word for servant—a…

Ancient Egyptian (via Latin)

ꜣmn

AH-men

The pungent gas that smells of cleaning fluid and…

Sinhala (via Portuguese/Spanish)

henakandaya

A Sri Lankan word for a local snake became the…

Portuguese/Spanish

anchova

This tiny fish has been currency, condiment, and…

Sundanese1

angklung

Two bamboo tubes, a wooden frame, and a single shake —…

Turkish place name

Angora

The soft fiber you know from sweaters and scarves…

Sanskrit via Arabic

अनिल

nīlī

The indigo plant has a Sanskrit name that Arabic…

Cariban (via Caribbean Spanish)

annatto

Annatto is the orange-red seed that has been painting…

Bugis

anoa

A buffalo shrank on an island and kept its old name.

Kalaallisut (Greenlandic Inuit)

annoraaq

An Arctic survival jacket became a British insult for…

Greenlandic Inuit1

annoraaq

From Arctic survival gear to British slang for…

Italian (from Arabic)

arabesco

A ballet position named after Arab decorative art was…

Latin (from Greek, from Semitic)

Arabic

arabic

Arabic is the Latin word for a language that already…

Sicilian Italian

arancino

Sicily's golden fried rice ball carries nine centuries…

Spanish from indigenous (Cumanagoto / Timoto-Cuica)

arepa

Venezuela and Colombia have been fighting over this…

Filipino1

arnis

Arnis began as armor. Then the armor vanished and the…

English from Dutch/German via French

arquebus

AR-kwi-bus

The first firearm light enough to carry on a shoulder…

Persian (Farsi)

aza

Asafoetida is called 'devil's dung' in English and…

English from Swahili from Arabic

askari

ah-SKAH-ree

A single Arabic word for soldier traveled from the…

Latin via English

Australian

australian

Australia took its name from the Roman south wind, not…

Ewe (Ghana/Togo)

axatse

The axatse is an Ewe gourd rattle that sits at the…

Modern Latin from Greek

azalea

ə-ZAY-lee-ə

Botanists named this flowering shrub for dryness —…

Akkadian / Hebrew place name

Bāb-el

The English word for incomprehensible noise and…

Opata

bacanora

Sonora's outlawed agave spirit spent a century…

Middle English (compound)

bag + pipe

bagpipe

The instrument most associated with Scotland probably…

Old French (from Latin bajulare)

baillier

Bail comes from the Old French word for 'to deliver' —…

Old French (from Latin baiulāre: to enclose)

bail

The bailey was the yard inside a castle's walls — and…

Ottoman Turkish / Arabic

باقلوا

bāqlawā

Layers of buttered pastry soaked in honey and studded…

Ottoman Turkish / Persian

bahşiş

The word a traveler hears most insistently across the…

English (from Crimean place name)

balaclava

A catastrophic military blunder in Crimea left…

Mandinka / Dyula (West Africa)

balafon

The xylophone of West African griots — the instrument…

Mande (West African)

bamanankan

The language of thirteen million people gave its name…

Arabic (possibly from West African Wolof)

بَنَان

banān

A fruit from Southeast Asia got its name in West…

Italian (from bandire, 'to banish')

bandito

A bandit was originally a person who had been banished…

Portuguese (from Marathi Vandre)

Bandra

bandra

A fishing hamlet's name survived Portuguese forts,…

Hindi (from Sanskrit valayin)

baṅglī

The glass bracelets sold for pennies in Indian bazaars…

Gujarati via Portuguese and English

বানিয়া

banian

A caste label became a tree name through colonial…

Kimbundu (Angolan)

mbanza

The enslaved brought their instruments—and created…

English/Scottish Gaelic (adopted by Indigenous North Americans)

bannock

Bannock is a flatbread that Scottish fur traders…

Malay (place name)

Bantam

Bantam (place name, now Banten)

A port city on the western tip of Java gave its name…

Arabic (probable origin)

bu hibab

Baobab is a tree so improbably shaped — vast smooth…

Tagalog / Malay

balangay

A boat became a village became the smallest unit of…

Frankish / Medieval Latin

baro

The word for the lowest rank of the English peerage —…

Spanish (via French)

barraca

The Spanish word for a simple hut made of mud and…

Spanish (from Caribbean origin, possibly Arawakan)

baracuda

The torpedo-shaped predator of tropical reefs carries…

Nyulnyul / Gangulu (Australian Aboriginal)

barramundi

A fish so prized it was given a name meaning…

English (from Middle English barre)

barrister

A barrister — from the bar, the physical railing that…

Egyptian Arabic

basbousa

Egypt's semolina cake has a name that even Arabic…

Ottoman Turkish (from Turkic basmak)

Basturma

basturma

Pressed under stone for weeks, this cured beef emerged…

Italian (from battaglia, 'battle')

battaglione

A battalion is a group sized for battle — the word is…

Brazilian Portuguese from Bantu

batucada

The percussive heart of Rio's Carnival — a wall of…

French (named after Louis de Béchameil, Marquis de Nointel)

béchamel

Béchamel sauce is named after a seventeenth-century…

Latin / Proto-Germanic

bibere

The word beer may come from the Latin for 'to drink' —…

Mayan (Mopan)

Belize City

A Mayan river word and a pirate's corrupted name share…

Sanskrit via Persian

Bengali

bengali

A people named after a kingdom that dissolved before…

Gascon French

béret

The beret is one of Europe's oldest surviving hat…

Portuguese (from Kimbundu/Bantu)

berimbau

A single-string bow that survived the Middle Passage…

Tamil / Sanskrit

பரதநாட்டியம்

bharatanatyam

A name woven from legend and linguistics — 'Bharata's…

French (from Breton bizou)

bijou

The French word for a small, exquisite piece of…

Middle English / Old Norse

bilge

The lowest, filthiest interior space on any wooden…

Portuguese/Latin

binnacle

The wooden box that housed a ship's compass — the most…

Hungarian (personal name)

Bíró

The ballpoint pen that ended the fountain pen's long…

Spanish (Mexican colloquial)

birria

The slow-braised goat stew from Jalisco gets its name…

French (origin disputed)

bisque

The creamy shellfish soup called bisque may take its…

Italian/Basque

bizarro

The origin of 'bizarre' is itself bizarre—it may come…

Irish English

Blarney

Blarney — smooth, flattering, persuasive talk that is…

French (from Dutch)

blocus

The word for sealing a port shut comes from a Dutch…

Old Norse / Old Swedish

blundra

From the Old Norse verb meaning 'to shut one's eyes'…

Southeastern Alpine Aboriginal (attribution uncertain)

bogong

A moth fed the mountains, and its name entered English.

Filipino Spanish / Tagalog

bolo

BOH-lo

The heavy single-edged blade of the Philippine…

English (from Old English bolster)

bolster

A bolster is a long cylindrical pillow that runs the…

Kongo/Spanish

bongo

Twin drums from Cuba carry an African heartbeat—their…

Old English (from Proto-Germanic)

book

The word for the bound volume that reshaped…

Aboriginal Australian

buma

boomer

A returning weapon named a generation by accident, not…

English from Dharug (Aboriginal Australian)

boomerang

The weapon that comes back was named by people the…

Australian Aboriginal (Nyungar)

bundi

boondie

A throwing club gave colonial English a blunt word for…

Setswana

Botswana

'Bo-' is the Setswana prefix that turns a people into…

Wolof via French

boubou

The grandest everyday garment in West Africa is a…

New Latin (named 1789, for Louis Antoine de Bougainville)

Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is named for the first French…

French (from German/Dutch)

Bollwerk

Every tree-lined Parisian boulevard was once a…

Middle Low German / Dutch

boegspriet

The pole that juts from a ship's bow like an…

Middle English / uncertain

boie

Boy is one of the most common words in English and one…

English (from a surname)

Boycott

boycott

An entire community refused to speak to one man — and…

Old French (from Middle Dutch/Germanic)

brique

The word probably comes from a root meaning 'to break'…

Old Welsh / Common Brythonic

broc

BROK

Every English speaker who has ever seen a…

French from Tupi

boucanier

Pirates got their name from a barbecue grill—because…

Yuwaalaraay (Australian Aboriginal)

budgerigar

The world's most popular pet bird — found in three…

Hindi/Gujarati

बंगला

bangla

The Bengal-style house became the suburban dream from…

Jagera / Turrbal (Aboriginal Australian)

bunya

The immense conifer whose football-sized cones fed…

Wemba-Wemba (Aboriginal Australian)

bunyip

The water-dwelling creature of Aboriginal oral…

Fijian from Proto-Oceanic

bure

The traditional Fijian house, the bure, is a thatched…

Middle Dutch / Middle High German

burger

The word for a citizen of a medieval fortified town —…

Rundi (Kirundi)

Burundi

A kingdom's name outlasted every empire that tried to…

Buryat

Buryatia

The name Buryatia is Russian bureaucracy applied to a…

English (disputed: possibly from Hungarian bocskai)

busby

The tall fur cap worn by British Household Cavalry…

Cumanagoto

cachapa

Venezuela's sweetest flatbread carries the name of an…

Late Greek / Medieval French

katastichon

A cadastre is a map that answers the question every…

Arabic / Persian / Turkish (via French)

قهوه‌خانه

qahwa-khāneh

A word that began as an Arabic name for a stimulating…

Spanish (Peruvian)

cajón

A wooden box that became a drum — because enslaved…

Spanish via West African languages

kalebas

The gourd that carried water, music, and stories…

Malayalam (from Calicut)

കാലിക്കോ

kālikko

The Indian port city whose name dressed the world.

Malayalam / English

കോഴിക്കോട്

Kōḻikkōṭ

The plain cotton cloth that dressed half of colonial…

French (from Calvados, a department in Normandy)

Calvados

Calvados is apple brandy named after a French…

Trinidad Creole (origin disputed: West African kaiso, or possibly French Caribbean créole)

calypso

The music that became the sound of the Caribbean —…

French (from camarade, roommate)

camaraderie

Camaraderie comes from the French for 'roommate' — the…

English from Chinook Jargon

camas

An onion field fed empires, and English kept its…

New Latin (named 1753, for Georg Josef Kamel)

Camellia

Camellia is named for a Jesuit brother who never…

Afro-Uruguayan from Kikongo/Kimbundu

candombe

Enslaved Africans brought a rhythm to Montevideo that…

Akkadian (from Sumerian gi)

qanû

KA-noo

The hollow reed that gave Mesopotamia its writing…

Ladin

canederli

A Tyrolean bread dumpling that crossed the Alps into…

Gascon

canelé

canele

Bordeaux's rum-soaked custard pastry spent centuries…

Spanish (from Carib/Taino)

Caníbal

Columbus misheard a people's name and gave the world…

Taíno/Arawakan

canaoua

The first American word to enter European languages —…

Spanish (Andalusian/Romani)

cante jondo

Deep song. The oldest heartbreak in flamenco, codified…

Canadian English

Canuck

canuck

An insult borrowed from Americans became Canada's…

Spanish from a Philippine place name

capiz

A shell became a material, then a material became a…

Latin (from Gaulish)

carrus

A Celtic word for a two-wheeled war chariot rolled…

Spanish/Portuguese (possibly from Latin calamellus, 'little reed')

caramelo

Caramel might be named after a sugarcane reed — Latin…

Dravidian (Tamil/Malayalam)

ēlam

The spice called 'queen of spices' in India is today…

Welsh English

Cardigan

An earl who led a catastrophic cavalry charge into…

Mi'kmaq (Algonquian)

xalibu

Caribou reached English from the Mi'kmaq word for the…

Medieval Latin/Italian

carne levare

The world's biggest party is named after giving up…

French (from Greek)

cartographe

The person who draws maps has a title younger than the…

Tupi via Portuguese

acaju

The Brazilian nut that hangs from a fake fruit — named…

Sanskrit/Persian

کشمیر

Kashmīr

A valley in the Himalayas gave its name to the…

Papuan Malay (via Malay)

kèsuari

cassowary

The cassowary — the world's most dangerous bird —…

Modern Latin1

catechu

A village extract from India reentered English wearing…

Italian (from Latin caballus)

cavalleria

Cavalry comes from caballus, the Latin slang word for…

Scottish Gaelic / Irish

céilidh

A ceilidh is not merely a party — it is an ancient…

Spanish (from Nahuatl centzontli)

cenzontle

Cenzontle means 'four hundred voices' in Nahuatl — the…

Hindi (via Persian, from Chinese)

चाय

chāy

The overland twin of 'tea' — a word that traveled by…

South African township vernacular

chakalaka

Johannesburg's mine kitchens invented a relish whose…

French from Franco-Provençal

chalet

A Alpine herder's summer hut became the world's symbol…

French (from Cambrai)

chambray

A Flemish city famous for its fine linen gave its name…

Filipino (via Spanish from Nahuatl)

champorado

An Aztec chocolate drink crossed the Pacific and…

English (Old English roots)

changeling

The word for a fairy's substitute child was the…

Spanish (from Basque)

chaparro

cha·pa·RRAL

The scrubby, thorny, fire-adapted shrublands that…

Gaulish via Latin

carrus

The Gaulish war-cart that terrified Julius Caesar's…

English (dialectal)

chauder

Before chowder had a spelling, Atlantic fishermen…

Latin (from Greek khairéphyllon)

chaerefolium

Chervil's Greek name means 'leaf of joy' — making it…

English place name

Chesterfield

The deep-buttoned, roll-armed sofa that became the…

Igbo (Central Africa)

chi

In Igbo cosmology, every person has a personal god—and…

Spanish from Indigenous American languages

chicha

An old American drink kept its name while empires…

Bantu (Kongo)

kivili-chimpenze

A word from a Bantu language of Central Africa —…

Spanish (from Chincha, Quechua)

chinchilla

chin·CHIL·la

A small Andean rodent with the densest fur of any land…

Chinook Jargon / English

chinook

shi-NOOK

A warm wind that can raise temperatures by 20°C in an…

British English

chipo

Britain clipped chipolata to chipo the way it clipped…

English from Nahuatl

chocolate

The Aztecs drank the gods' bitter water. Europe added…

Chinese (Cantonese/Pidgin English)

炒

chǎo

The casual English word for food — 'let's grab some…

Yiddish from Hebrew

חוצפה

chutzpah

The audacity to sue your parents for giving birth to…

Greek (from Hebrew)

σίκερα

síkera

The English word for fermented apple juice came from a…

Mayan (possibly via Spanish)

sikar

The rolled tobacco that Mayans smoked became the…

Greek from Phoenician

kinnamomon

The spice that bankrolled empires—and whose origins…

Italian-American

cioppino

San Francisco's signature seafood stew has an Italian…

Medieval Latin (from Celtic)

clocca

The word clock comes from the medieval word for a bell…

Early Modern English

cockpit

A pit where roosters fought became where pilots fly.

Temne / Mandinka

kola

A bitter nut chewed for centuries across West Africa…

Koli (via Portuguese)

Colaba

colaba

The Koli fisherfolk named this peninsula before any…

Latin place name

Colonia Agrippina

The scented water you splash on in the morning is…

Welsh / Common Brythonic

cwm

KOOM

The deep, steep-sided valleys carved into the flanks…

English from Italian

concertina

The squeezebox that sailors played on whaling ships…

Kikongo / Spanish

conga

The conga drum carries its African origin in its name…

Italian (contra + bando, 'against the ban')

contrabbando

Contraband is literally 'against the ban' — and the…

Tamil/Hindi

கூலி

kuli

A word for wages became a word for workers—then a word…

Mycenaean Greek (Linear B)

ko-ri-ja-da-na

Coriander is one of the oldest documented spices in…

Old English (from Proto-Germanic *kurną)

corn

In British English, 'corn' means any grain. In…

Spanish (possibly from Portuguese or Khoikhoi)

corral

co·RRAL

An enclosed space for horses or cattle that became a…

Spanish (correr + de + toro)

corrida de toros

The Spanish term for the bullfight translates…

Ukrainian/Turkic

козак

kozak

Cossack names the free horsemen of the Ukrainian and…

Tupi (via Portuguese/French)

susuarana

The big cat known by more names than any other animal…

English from Arabic/Berber

كسكس

kuskus

North Africa's ancient grain dish — steamed, not…

Welsh / Celtic

craig

crag

The English word for a steep, rugged rock face comes…

English (compound, possibly from German/Dutch)

crane berry

The cranberry is named after the crane — the flower…

Italian (from Medieval Latin)

credenza

The low sideboard in every modern office and dining…

Spanish (from Portuguese crioulo)

criollo

A word that began as a colonial term for people born…

Old French (uncertain)

criquet

Nobody can agree on where the word 'cricket' comes…

French (disputed)

croquet

Croquet may come from the French word for a small hook…

French (from Latin corium, 'leather')

cuirasse

A cuirass was originally leather body armor — the word…

English from French from Latin

culverin

KUL-vər-in

A cannon named for a snake — its long barrel and…

Spanish (Colombian)

cumbia

KOOM-bya

Colombia's national rhythm was named by the enslaved…

Urdu / Persian

kamarband

The sash worn with black-tie formal wear is a garment…

Chinese (Hokkien/Cantonese via Pidgin English)

感謝

gám jeh

The old naval and merchant slang word 'cumshaw' —…

Romani (via Persian)

kushto

kushto / kushti

The British slang word for 'great' or 'excellent'—made…

Old Church Slavonic

цар

czar

A Slavic corruption of Caesar — the name of a Roman…

Dutch/Greek

de affodil

A flower whose English name is a beautiful accident —…

Khoikhoi (via Afrikaans)

dagga

The South African word for cannabis traveled from the…

Lithuanian (also Latvian: dziesma)

daina

The Baltic folk song tradition so ancient it preserves…

Avestan

dakhma

A tower built not for the living but to keep death…

Latin from Aramaic1

damascenum

The small purple plum in English jam jars is still…

Nepali

Darjeeling

darjeeling

Darjeeling's name encodes a thunderbolt, and the tea…

Yoruba (via Hausa)

danshiki

The dashiki began as a West African work garment worn…

Persian / Urdu

داستان

dastaan

A Persian word for the grand epic narrative — tales so…

Uzbek (from Persian)

دسترخوان

dastarkhan

A dastarkhan is the tablecloth spread for communal…

English from Swahili/Spanish

dinga

dengue

The 'bone-breaking fever' may owe its name to a…

Persian via Turkish

درویش

darvīsh

The spinning mystics whose name means 'doorway' —…

Sanskrit / Hindi

dharmaśālā

Dharamsala means a dharma hall — a rest house for…

German (surname)

Diesel

A German engineer's surname became an engine, a fuel,…

Afar / East African

dik-dik

The dik-dik is an antelope the size of a rabbit, and…

Old English (from Proto-Germanic *dillaz)

dill

The word dill probably comes from a Germanic root…

Arabic (from Latin denarius)

دينار

dīnār

The dinar crossed from Rome to Arabia to eight modern…

Hindi/Bengali

डिंगी

ḍiṅgī

The Bengali riverboat became every yacht's tender.

Greek (via Latin dioecesis)

dioíkēsis

A diocese was a Roman tax district before it was a…

Arabic from Greek from Akkadian

drachma

dir-ham

The currency still used across the Arab world carries…

Latin/French

disinficere

A disinfectant un-infects — the word combines dis…

Afar

Djibouti

djibouti

A woven palm mat became the name of a nation.

Dutch / Portuguese

dodaars / doudo

The Portuguese called it stupid, the Dutch called it…

German (from Czech)

Taler

A silver coin minted in a Bohemian valley gave its…

French (eponym)

Déodat de Dolomieu

Dolomieu

A French geologist imprisoned during the Napoleonic…

French/Italian (origin debated)

domino

The domino tile may take its name from a priest's…

Nguni1

donga

A ravine in South Africa became an English geology…

Irish (place name)

Donnybrook

The English word for a wild, chaotic brawl takes its…

Old English (from Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ)

dūfe

Doves and pigeons are the same thing — there is no…

English from Middle Low German

dövel

dowel

The humble wooden peg that has reinforced joints,…

Middle English / Old French

dresser

A kitchen sideboard for dressing food — arranging,…

Gaulish / Old Celtic

druides

The learned priests of the ancient Celts — 'those who…

Spanish (from duen de casa)

duende

The Spanish word for the uncanny spirit that makes a…

English from Swahili from Arabic from Akkadian

duka

DOO-kah

A small shop in East Africa whose name traveled from a…

Old French from Latin/Greek

dolce melos

The hammered string instrument's name literally means…

Old Irish

dún

Dún is the Old Irish word for a fortified hill or…

Jamaican Creole (from Bube dupe or related Bantu/Igbo forms)

duppy

The Jamaican word for a ghost — the spirit of the dead…

Ancient Greek (modern coinage)

δυσ- + τόπος

dys- + tópos

The word dystopia was invented in 1868 by a British…

Tibetan / Dzongkha

རྫོང

dzong

Dzong — 'fortress' in Tibetan — names the great…

Old French (from Latin aquila)

aigle

The bald eagle is not bald — 'bald' here comes from an…

Mexican Spanish (from Nahuatl)

enchilada

en·chi·LA·da

A corn tortilla dipped in chili sauce and wrapped…

French (from Italian scarpa: slope)

escarpe

An escarpment is a steep slope — and in fortification,…

Catalan / Occitan

espadrille

The flat canvas shoes with braided rope soles that…

Greek (coined 1788)

εὖ + καλυπτός

eu + kalyptos

Eucalyptus means 'well-covered' in Greek — a name…

Asturian

fabada

Asturias turned the Roman broad bean into Spain's most…

Latin (from facere: to do, to make)

factor

A factor was originally a 'doer' — someone who did…

German (from the name Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit)

Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit is named for a Polish-born German physicist…

Spanish (origin disputed)

fandango

fan·DAN·go

An energetic Spanish dance in triple time that swept…

English from French, possibly from Spanish or Arabic

fanfare

A fanfare is a trumpet flourish that says: pay…

English (from Old French fausset, from fausser)

faucet

Faucet comes from Old French fausser, meaning 'to…

Arabic (possibly from Greek)

فلوكة

falūka

The lateen-rigged sailing vessel that has plied the…

Mandarin1

風水

fēng shuǐ

Ancient geomancy that moved from Chinese graves to…

Italian via Maltese

festa

A Maltese word for village feast came from Italian but…

German (via Swiss German)

Pfeife

The small, shrill flute that accompanied soldiers into…

Dutch (via Spanish and French)

vrijbuiter

A Dutch word for pirate sailed through Spanish and…

African American Vernacular English

finna

Finna once took three words, two centuries, and a…

Old Norse (via Scots)

fjǫrðr

The Norse word that became 'fjord' in Norwegian also…

Spanish/Portuguese from Provençal/Germanic

flamenco

The bird, the dance, and the Flemish people all share…

German (Alsatian dialect)

Flammkuchen

flammkuchen

Bakers in Alsace invented this flatbread to measure…

Italian (Florentine)

fiorino

Florence put a flower on its gold coin and the flower…

German / Latin

Föhn

FERN (approximately) / FOEHN

The warm Alpine wind that melts winter snow overnight,…

Scandinavian / Middle English

fog

A word of murky origin — possibly Scandinavian,…

French (from fondre, 'to melt')

fondant

Fondant means 'melting' — it is the present participle…

French (from Wolof foño)

fonio

Fonio is one of Africa's oldest cultivated grains —…

English from Middle French from Latin

font

FONT

Every time you choose a typeface on a screen, you are…

Old Frankish

France

france

France bears the name of a Germanic tribe that…

Italian (from a Roman noble family name)

frangipani

Frangipani — the intensely fragrant tropical flower…

Dutch/Middle Dutch

vracht

Dutch merchants loading their ships called the cargo…

Medieval Latin from French

frisium

frieze

The decorative band running around the Parthenon got…

New Latin (from German)

Fuchsia

fuchsia

A German botanist who died in 1566 woke up in the…

Hausa/Fulani

Fulani

Africa's largest nomadic people named themselves. The…

English/Latin

futures

A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell…

English via Spanish

gabardine

GAB-ər-deen

The fabric of Humphrey Bogart's trench coat and the…

Old English via Old Norse

gafol

The triangular wall at the end of a pitched roof…

Javanese/Indonesian

gado-gado

A dish named for the act of mixing — and perhaps the…

French (possibly Frankish)

guêtre

The protective ankle and leg coverings worn by…

Sámi

gakti

The traditional Sámi outfit that tells your…

Yuwaalaraay (Aboriginal Australian)

galah

The pink-and-grey cockatoo that gathers in noisy,…

Old Norse / Scandinavian

gala

A word that may have begun as a Scandinavian verb…

Arabic from Chinese

خولنجان

khūlanjān

Medieval Europeans paid more for galingale than for…

Old Northern French1

galun

The English unit of liquid measure comes from a…

English from Portuguese from Khmer

gamboge

Cambodia gave its name to a tree resin, and that tree…

Old Norman French

gaiole

The English language has two words for the same thing…

Yoruba / Pidgin English (West African)

gari

Gari is cassava ground into granules, fermented, and…

Old French (from Frankish *wrist, 'a band')

gartier

The Most Noble Order of the Garter — the highest order…

Spanish (from Quechua or Mapuche; origin disputed)

gaucho

The mounted herder of the South American pampas — the…

English via Arabic

gauze

gawz

The thinnest of all woven fabrics, the one used to…

Malay (onomatopoeia)

gekoq

The lizard named for its call — 'gek-ko, gek-ko.'

Lushootseed

geoduck

An enormous clam gave English a word people still…

English from Greek via Arabic

khatt al-raml

khatt ar-raml

The word means 'earth divination' in Greek, but its…

Soninke

Ghana

Ghana was a king's title for centuries before it…

Persian (via Dutch and Low German)

انگاره

angareh

A small pickled cucumber whose name traveled from…

French (from Turkish)

gilet

The sleeveless padded vest worn by hikers and…

Nyungar

gilgie

An Aboriginal crayfish kept its local name in…

Irish / Scottish Gaelic

gob

The blunt, informal English word for a mouth — 'shut…

American English (Italian-American slang)

gonzo

An Italian-American slang word for 'fool' became the…

Kikongo / Kimbundu

nguba

A Bantu word for peanut survived the Middle Passage,…

Germanic/Latin

gothic

From the Goths, a Germanic tribe who sacked Rome in…

Filipino (from Hokkien Chinese)

goto

Manila's most comforting tripe porridge carries a…

Dutch (place name)

Gouda

gouda

A Dutch city famous for its cheese market has given…

English (from Medieval Latin grana paradisi)

grains of paradise

Medieval spice traders told Europeans that these seeds…

Old French from Celtic

gravele

Gravel is sand's diminutive — the little version of…

Spanish (via Arabic)

Grenada

grenada

Columbus's sailors named this island after the…

Brazilian Portuguese / Spanish

gringo

The word for a foreigner in Latin America has at least…

West African (Mande languages, via French)

guiriot / jali

griot / jali

West Africa's living libraries — the keepers of…

English naval slang

grog

The word for a watered-down alcoholic drink—and by…

Dutch / Middle English

groeve

The word for the channel cut by a tool — a literal…

English from Taíno/Arawakan

guayaba

guava

A Caribbean fruit word that traveled from Taíno…

Dutch / German

gulden

The Dutch currency for four centuries — the guilder —…

English (from Guinea, West Africa)

guinea

The guinea was worth one pound and one shilling — a…

Greek (via Italian and French)

κόλπος

kólpos

The Greek word for a fold in a garment — the hollow…

Cornish / Brythonic

gullan

GUL-an

The bird that screams over every harbour in the North…

Maghrebi Arabic

gundi

A desert rodent kept its Arabic name while science…

Italian (from Latin gustus, 'taste')

gusto

Gusto is Italian for 'taste' — and in English it means…

Arawak

Guyana

An Arawak word for 'land of water' outlasted every…

Guadeloupean Creole

gwo ka

gwo-ka

The name means 'big drum,' and the music born in…

Cypriot Greek (possibly from Arabic ḥallūm)

χαλλούμι

halloúmi

Halloumi is the cheese that does not melt — it squeaks…

Slovak

halušky

halusky

Slovakia's potato dumpling carries a name older than…

English (from Anglo-French hanaper, from hanap)

hamper

A hamper is a large basket. It comes from the Old…

English from French, from Italian

Arlecchino

harlequin

Harlequin — the masked, diamond-patched trickster of…

Hausa / Twi

harmattan

har-muh-TAN

The dry, dusty wind that blows from the Sahara toward…

Latin/Italian

harmonica

Named for harmony itself — from the Greek word for a…

Old English (from Proto-Germanic *habukaz)

hafoc

The word 'hawk' also means to sell goods aggressively…

Low German / Middle Dutch

höker

A hawker is a seller who shouts — the word probably…

German (Pennsylvania Dutch dialect)

Hexe

Hex is the German word for witch — brought to America…

Ghanaian English

highlife

A word that originally described the elite social…

Hindustani

hijra

Mughal emperors gave hijra official palace…

Navajo

hogan

One Navajo house word entered English without taking…

French (meaning 'from Holland')

hollandaise

Hollandaise sauce is French, not Dutch — it was named…

Ottoman Turkish / Urdu (from Arabic)

huqqa

The elaborate water pipe that became a symbol of…

Spanish (from Latin/Arabic)

horchata

In Spain, horchata is made from tiger nuts. In Mexico,…

Turkic/Mongol via Russian

орда

orda

The Mongol word for 'camp' became English's word for…

Urdu / Persian (from Arabic)

هودج

hawdaj (Arabic) / haudah (Urdu/Persian)

A canopied throne carried on the back of an elephant —…

English (from Inuit/Cree contact)

husky

A corruption of the word 'Esky' or 'Huskemaw' —…

Phoenician

Ibiza

ibiza

Phoenician traders named this island three thousand…

Byzantine Greek

εἰκονοκλάστης

eikonoklástēs

The word was coined to describe people who smashed…

Igbo (Nnobi)

Igbo

The Igbo people named themselves with a word that may…

Zulu/Xhosa

indaba

The Zulu word for a conference between chiefs — a…

Zulu/Ndebele

indlamu

Indlamu is the warrior dance of the Zulu and Ndebele…

Lakota

inipi

The Lakota sweat lodge ceremony—a prayer made of heat,…

Yup'ik and Inupiaq

Inu'a

Innua

The Inuit concept that every living thing has an…

Arabic / Persian / Urdu

عشق

ishq

Not merely love but a force that unmakes you — an…

Oscan

Italy

italy

Italy's name began as a cattle-herding word for a…

Gascon/Basque

isard

The Pyrenean chamois — a mountain goat-antelope that…

Bengali / Odia from Sanskrit

জগন্নাথ

Jagannāth

A fine cotton cloth is named after Jagannath Puri, the…

Tamil / Sanskrit (via Portuguese)

சக்கரை

cakkarai (Tamil) / śarkarā (Sanskrit)

The Sanskrit word for grit and gravel became the name…

Mandinka (Mande languages, West Africa)

jali

The West African griot—a person who memorizes…

Louisiana Creole (from Provençal jambalaia, influenced by West African and Spanish)

jambalaya

The dish and word that defines Louisiana cooking may…

English (American, origin unknown)

jamboree

Jamboree appeared in American English around 1868 with…

American English (disputed African origin)

jazz

The most American word might be African—and nobody…

Filipino English1

jeepney

JEEP-nee

After World War II, Filipinos took the American…

Old Norse place name

Jersey

The close-fitting knit shirt worn by athletes and…

Santali / Sanskrit

Jharkhand

jharkhand

A forest carved into a state by the weight of…

Dutch/uncertain

gybe

gib

The triangular sail at the front of a ship also gave…

English (American slang)

jitterbug

The jitterbug was named as an insult — it originally…

African American English (from Wolof)

jive

Jive began as a Harlem word for deceptive talk — and…

Latin (via Portuguese pidgin in China)

deus

Joss comes from the Portuguese word for God — deus —…

Sanskrit via Hindi

जगन्नाथ

Jagannath

A Hindu temple chariot became English's word for…

French/West African

joujou

A word that may derive from French joujou (toy) or…

Gullah / Wolof

jug / joog

jug

A word meaning wicked or disorderly in the Gullah…

Gullah (from West African languages)

juke

"Disorderly" roadhouses gave America the music machine.

Caribbean Creole (Trinidad, Guyana, St. Vincent — from Kikongo nzambi or related Bantu)

jumbie

The spirit-figure of the French and Dutch Caribbean —…

Swahili (via an elephant's name)

jumbo

One elephant's name became the word for everything…

Javanese/Malay

jong

The Chinese sailing vessels that dominated Asian trade…

Portuguese (from Malay)

junco

The great flat-bottomed trading vessels of China and…

Hopi

kachina

A sacred being became a museum label in two…

Bantu (Shona / regional)

kalimba

A small instrument of metal tongues mounted on a…

Maranao / Maguindanao (Filipino)

kampilan

The great single-edged sword of the Philippine Islands…

Guugu Yimithirr1

gangurru

Captain Cook asked what the hopping animal was…

Thai from Malay

กะปิ

gà-pì

The pungent fermented shrimp paste that underlies…

English from Malay

kapuk

kapok

The Malay word for the silky fiber that filled…

Russian (from Turkic)

каракуль

karakul'

Named for a remote lake in the Pamir Mountains, this…

Middle Persian

کشک

kashk

A fermented whey cake older than empires survives…

Newari / Sanskrit

Kathmandu

kathmandu

A city named after a single wooden building still…

Arabic / Persian / Turkish

کباب

kabāb

An Arabic and Persian word for roasted or grilled meat…

Malay/Indonesian

kecap

The Heinz bottle on your table descends from a Malay…

Akan (Asante/Ghana)

kente

Strips of hand-woven silk and cotton, assembled into…

Kamba

Kenya

kenya

An ostrich-patterned mountain gave its Kamba name to a…

English from Hokkien Chinese

茅汁

kê-tsiap

A Chinese fish sauce became America's tomato…

Mongolic1

ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ

khagan

One extra syllable turned a khan into an emperor.

Urdu/Persian

खाकी

khākī

The color of dust became the color of empire.

Urdu / Hindi / Persian

خاکی

khākī

The color of modern military uniforms worldwide was…

Mongolic/Turkic

хаан

khaan

From Genghis to Imran — the title that ruled half the…

Gandhari Prakrit

𐨑𐨪𐨆𐨮𐨿𐨛𐨁

kharoṣṭhī

Written right to left like the Aramaic it descended…

Latin from Mesopotamian technology

culina

kiln

The oven that fires pottery and bricks carries a Latin…

Gilbertese

Kiribati

kiribati

The name Kiribati hides an English word reshaped by…

Serbian

knedla

A Serbian dumpling holds five centuries of Habsburg…

Hausa from West African languages

kola

The Hausa word for a nut became the ingredient that…

Wiradjuri (Aboriginal Australian)

kookaburra

The bird whose laugh echoes through the Australian…

Afrikaans from Portuguese

kraal

A Portuguese word for a livestock pen traveled to…

Kimbundu / Portuguese

ku duro

Kuduro means hard ass in Kimbundu-influenced…

Maguindanaon

kulintang

A row of gongs gave an island world one of its great…

Kazakh1

қымыз

kumis

Horse milk became a diplomatic drink before it became…

Turkish (from Serbo-Croatian)

kumpir

A German word for ground pear became Turkey's most…

Arabic (Egyptian), from Hindi khichri

kushari

Egypt's national street dish began as colonial army…

Chichewa

kwacha

A dawn became money. Independence put sunrise on the…

English from Ga (Ghana)

kwashiorkor

kwah-shee-OR-kor

A Ghanaian word for the illness a child gets when a…

Kyrgyz

Kyrgyzstan

Forty tribes encoded in an ancient name, still spoken…

Spanish (from Latin pax)

La Paz

la-paz

A city named for peace was born from the…

Sanskrit (via Portuguese and Persian)

lākshā

A hundred thousand tiny insects gave their lives to…

Louisiana French (from Spanish la ñapa, from Quechua yapay)

lagniappe

The Louisiana word for the little extra a shopkeeper…

Portuguese (Brazilian)

lambada

The lambada was banned in Brazil before it became a…

Latin (possibly from Celtic or Spanish)

lancea

The lance was the weapon that defined mounted warfare…

German (toponym)

Landau

A small German town built such good folding-top…

French/Latin

lateen

The triangular sail that made it possible to sail…

French (from Old Norse)

Le Havre

A Viking word for harbor survived to name one of…

Gaulish (Celtic)

leuga

Jules Verne's title '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'…

Late Latin (from Gaulish)

leuca

The league that Verne sent Captain Nemo twenty…

English from Arabic/Persian/Sanskrit

ليمون

laymūn

A fruit traveled from India to Persia to Arabia to…

French (personal name)

leotard

The tight-fitting garment worn by gymnasts, dancers,…

Sesotho

Lesotho

Moshoeshoe I named his nation in 1822 using the…

Russian / Caucasian

лезгинка

lezginka

Named for the Lezgin people of the Caucasus Mountains…

Latin (from libare, 'to pour')

libatio

A libation is a drink poured out for the gods — the…

Lingala

likuta

A word for lying became the title of a song everyone…

Latin via theology

limbus

The edge of Hell became a dance, a state of…

Mycenaean Greek

Linear B

ˈlɪn.i.ər biː

An amateur architect cracked a 3,400-year-old code and…

Latin from ancient Near Eastern trade

linum

linen

The fabric of pharaohs and priests takes its name from…

Italian (from Arabic lisān al-Faranī)

lingua franca

The phrase we use for any common language between…

Lithuanian

Lithuania

The first written mention of Lithuania is a death…

Quechua via Spanish

llama

Spanish conquistadors couldn't spell the Quechua word,…

Middle English (from Middle Dutch lūpen: to peer)

loupe

A loophole was originally an arrow slit in a castle…

New Latin (eponymous)

Macadamia

The macadamia nut is named after John Macadam, a…

Portuguese (from Fiot/Bantu)

macaco

A Bantu word for monkey passed through Portuguese…

Amharic (via Italian)

ማኪያቶ

mäkiyato

The word means 'stained' in Italian, but it was Addis…

Vulgar Latin (possibly from Latin mateola, 'mallet')

massa

The mace was a weapon designed to get around armor —…

Turkish / Arabic

makrama

A word for a fringed towel or napkin -- something…

English (from Madras, India)

madras

MAD-rəs

A lightweight cotton fabric of bright plaid and check…

Mandinka

mafe

A Mali groundnut stew that crossed the Sahara in a…

Uncertain (possibly Mayan/Arawak)

mahogany

The word that became synonymous with luxury furniture…

Arabic / Persian

maydān

Maidan means an open public space — and the word…

Makonde (Bantu)

Makonde

Makonde is a Bantu people of southeastern Tanzania and…

Duala

makossa

A plural noun from Douala taught dancefloors across…

English from Mahlemut (Inupiaq people name)

malamute

The large working sled dog of the Arctic carries the…

Medieval Italian

mala aria

Bad air — the wrong theory that accidentally gave the…

Chewa (Bantu)

Malawi

malawi

Malawi is a Chewa word for flames, born from light on…

Kimbundu / Haitian Creole

mambo

A Kimbundu word for a voodoo priestess crossed the…

Rapa Nui/Polynesian

mana

Mana is spiritual power in Polynesian cultures — not…

Arabic (Levantine)

manakish

This flatbread is called engraved because fingers…

Portuguese (from Malay/Sanskrit)

mandarim

The word mandarin — for a Chinese government official,…

Kiribati

maneapa

The meeting house of the Gilbert Islands. No walls, no…

Tamil/Malayalam

மாங்காய்

māṅkāy

The king of fruits kept its Dravidian name as it…

English from Portuguese mangue

mangrove

The coastal trees that protect shorelines, nurse fish,…

French (from a person's name)

Mansart

The distinctive double-sloped roof that defines…

Bantu (various)

marimba

Wooden keys singing over gourds—an African instrument…

French (from Spanish marinada, from marinar, 'to pickle in brine')

marinade

Marinade comes from the sea — Latin mare (sea) gave…

Portuguese from Greek

marmelo

A gift for a seasick queen became Britain's breakfast…

Medieval Spanish

marrano

A pig-word for forced converts became a badge of…

Italian (origin debated; possibly from mascarpa, 'ricotta')

mascarpone

Mascarpone might be named after ricotta — Lombard…

Guarani (via Spanish)

mate

A Guarani word for the gourd in which the drink was…

Arabic (probable)

al-mawt'a

The mattock — a hoe-like digging tool with an adze…

Greek (from Carian name)

Μαυσωλεῖον

Mausōleion

A grief-stricken queen built her husband's tomb so…

Proto-Indo-European1

medu

Mead—honey fermented with water—is almost certainly…

Yiddish (from Hebrew)

מגילה

megile

A sacred scroll of the Hebrew Bible became a Yiddish…

Thai/Lao

แม่โขง

Mae Khong

The greatest river in Southeast Asia carries a name…

Hindi / Urdu (hybrid of English + Arabic)

मेमसाहिब

memsāhib (Hindi/Urdu)

Half English, half Arabic, born in colonial India —…

Algonquian (Eastern)

menhaden

A fertilizer fish gave English one of its strangest…

Serbian/Bosnian from Turkish

мерак

merak

A Balkan word for savoring small pleasures—sipping…

Spanish (Dominican)

merengue

meh-RENG-gay

The Dominican Republic's national dance shares its…

English (neologism)

meritocracy

The word was invented in 1958 as a warning — a…

Nahuatl (via Spanish)

mizquitl

The gnarly desert tree that defines the landscape of…

Spanish (from Latin mixtus)

mestizo

The Spanish colonial system created a rigid racial…

Spanish (from Nahuatl metatl)

metate

A metate is a Mesoamerican stone grinding platform —…

Pali1

මෙත්තා

mettā

The oldest guided meditation in the Buddhist canon is…

Greek/English

mikron + phone

A word combining Greek 'small' and 'sound' was coined…

Occitan (Gascon dialect)

millas

This Gascon cornmeal porridge carries Latin millet…

Old French (from Latin milium)

mil

The grain that fed more humans than wheat for most of…

English (from Milan, Italy)

millinery

Millinery comes from Milan — the city that exported…

Latin (New Latin)

mimosa

The plant that closes when you touch it got its name…

Sumerian1

ma-na

MA-na

The Sumerian unit of weight — the mina — is the oldest…

French (named after the Duke of Mirepoix)

mirepoix

Mirepoix — the diced onion, carrot, and celery that…

Arabic (place name)

mocha

al-Mukha

The word that names a flavor — the dark, chocolatey…

Puerto Rican Spanish

mofongo

An African word survived the Middle Passage and became…

Arabic / Hindi

mufassal

Mofussil — the rural districts of India beyond the…

Persian from Mongol

مغول

mogul

The Mongol emperors of India became Wall Street's word…

Fula / West African Creole

mojo

A West African charm word that became the soul of…

Arabic (Egyptian)

molokhia

A soup that pharaohs ate was banned by a caliph in the…

French from Latin and Greek

monocle

The single eyeglass worn by Edwardian aristocrats and…

English (calque from Mandarin Chinese)

mooncake

The English name is a translation, but the pastry is…

Lao/Thai (Isaan)

หมอลำ

mǒo-lam

The musical tradition of the Lao-speaking Isaan region…

Portuguese (from Amazigh)

Morocco

A Moroccan city gave an entire country its European…

Galician1

morriña

The grief of a depopulated homeland—longing for…

Italian (from Latin muttum, 'a grunt')

motto

A motto started as a grunt — the Latin muttum meant a…

Portuguese via Arabic

Mozambique

mozambique

The name of a country traces to one Arab trader on a…

Swiss German1

Müesli

A Swiss physician invented healthy cereal in 1900 for…

English (possibly Hindi)

mugger

Nobody is entirely sure where mugger comes from—it may…

Natick (Massachusetts Algonquian)

mugwump

The English word for a fence-sitter in politics —…

Gikuyu

mukimo

Five vegetables mashed into one pot define Kikuyu…

Mandinka (West African)

Maamajomboo

A sacred ritual became an insult—the story of how…

Uruguayan Spanish

murga

A Uruguayan Carnival theater tradition born from…

Arabic / English

موصل

Mawṣil / Mosul

The fabric so fine that Mughal emperors called it…

Hindi / Malay

maina

The bird that talks back — the mynah has been the…

Hindi/Urdu from Arabic

नवाब

nawāb

The Mughal governors became rich British merchants…

Nama (Khoikhoi)

Namibia

namibia

A desert named for nothingness gave a nation its…

Yandruwandha or Karuwali

nardoo

An outback famine word entered English through a…

Romani (from Sanskrit/Hindi)

nāk

The English slang word for a police informer comes…

Russian (from Kabardian/Nart languages)

нарзан

narzan

The 'water of the Narts' — a legendary mineral spring…

Indonesian / Malay

nasi goreng

Nasi goreng means 'fried rice' in Indonesian. It was…

Nauruan1

Nauru

nauru

Nauru's name translates as I go to the beach, a phrase…

Urdu / Hindi (from Persian, from Arabic)

نواب

navāb (Urdu) / navāb (Hindi)

The Mughal Empire's provincial governors were called…

Sotho-Tswana

Ndebele

ndebele

A Sotho name for warriors hiding behind shields became…

Italian (Calabrian)

nduja

Napoleon's occupation left Calabria with a French word…

Italian / French

neroli

An Italian princess brought orange blossom perfume to…

Nahuatl and Spanish

Nicaragua

A chief's name and a Spanish word for water built a…

French (surname)

Nicot

The addictive alkaloid in tobacco carries the name of…

Tuareg

Niger

niger

A river name traveled from the Sahara through Lisbon…

Old English (from niht + galan)

nihtegale

The nightingale is named for singing at night — niht…

Arabic (for Egyptian concept)

miqyas al-nil

For five thousand years, Egypt's prosperity was read…

Kikongo (Bantu)

nkisi

An nkisi is a Kongo power object — a carved figure or…

Cornish / Brythonic substrate

noggin

NOG-in

A small wooden drinking cup with a Celtic name became…

Noongar (Australian Aboriginal)

numbat

The only marsupial that feeds exclusively on termites…

Okinawan / Japanese

ヌンチャク

nunchaku

Two sticks connected by a cord — a weapon born from…

English from Zulu / Tsonga (Bantu)

nyala

nyah-LAH

The 'shifty one' — a name given by Zulu speakers to…

Jamaican Creole (from Igbo/Twi/West African, possibly from Hebrew via Arabic)

obeah

The Caribbean spiritual practice called obeah was…

Odia

ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ

Oḍiśī

Odissi was nearly destroyed twice — once by Mughal…

Low German / Scandinavian

oegla

ögla

From a Low German or Scandinavian word related to…

Seneca

ohiiyo'

ohio

Ohio is a Seneca word that simply meant the great…

Spanish (from Arabic)

ojalá

ojala

Ojalá is an Arabic prayer that Spain turned into a…

Nsyilxcən

Okanagan

okanagan

The name Okanagan comes from its own people's language…

Lese (DRC)

okapi

Hidden in Congo's rainforest, a creature so elusive…

Igbo (West African)

ọkwuru

okwuru

The slimy vegetable that crossed the Atlantic in slave…

English from Medieval Latin

oleander

OH-lee-an-der

One of the most poisonous plants in the world, it…

Sicilian/Italian

omertà

The Mafia's code of silence — a word that forbids its…

Wyandot

Ontario

ontario

A lake's Wyandot name became a province's, unchanged…

English from Latin from Proto-Indo-European

oraculum

oracle

The Latin word for 'divine utterance' comes from…

Sanskrit via Persian and Arabic

नारंग

nāraṅga

The fruit came before the color—and the word lost a…

Italian (Apulian)

orecchiette

Little ears pressed by thumb across rough wooden…

French from Uzbek

organdi

The sheer cotton fabric used for wedding veils and…

Guernésiais

ormer

A shellfish name from the Channel Islands still…

Ute

osha

Ute healers learned osha from watching bears dig after…

English from Old French / Latin

osprey

The hawk that plunges into water for fish carries a…

Old English (from Proto-Germanic *utraz)

otor

The otter is named after water itself — the word…

English (of Malay technical origin)

cadik

outrigger

The lateral float that gives outrigger canoes their…

Aymara/Quechua

pacha + mama

Pachamama

The Andean peoples don't worship a goddess named…

Valencian/Catalan

paella

The pan that named the dish — and sparked eternal…

Portuguese (from Chinese/Sanskrit)

pagoda

Buddhist towers needed a European name—Portuguese…

Persian / Hindustani

پای‌جامه

pāy-jāma

The Persian phrase for 'leg garment' — pāy-jāma —…

English from Persian/Hindi-Urdu

پایجامه

pāy-jāmeh

Leg-garments for emperors became sleepwear for the…

Hindi (from Sanskrit via Portuguese)

पालकी

pālkī

The royal litter that carried empires — and the word…

Palauan1

Palau

palau

The island nation took its English name from a Spanish…

West African Pidgin English (from Portuguese palavra)

palava

Palava means 'trouble' or 'a heated argument' in West…

Malay / Indonesian (from Pandanus)

pandan

Pandan is the vanilla of Southeast Asia — the region's…

Sicilian

panelle

Arab governors introduced the chickpea fritter that…

Zulu/Sotho (South African urban)

pantsula

Pantsula is the street dance of South African…

Hungarian from Serbian/Croatian from Latin

paprika

The spice that defines Hungarian cuisine traveled from…

Persian (via Old French)

پرّه‌کت

parrah-kat

A small parrot whose name likely descends from a…

Nenets (via Russian)

парка

parka

An Inuit and Yupik word for a hooded animal-skin…

English (scientific portmanteau)

parsec

A parsec — contraction of 'parallax arcsecond' — is…

Spanish (pasar + -eo)

paseo

The Spanish word for a leisurely evening walk — a…

Italian/Spanish

pavana

pa-VAH-na

The stateliest dance of the Renaissance has two…

River Plate Spanish

payada

A centuries-old duel fought entirely in improvised…

Persian (via Latin)

هلو

holu

The Romans called it the Persian apple — malum…

Middle English (origin uncertain)

pedder

A peddler walks — the word may come from 'ped,' a…

Chinese (Hokkien/Cantonese)

白毫

pe̍h-hō

The tea grade name 'pekoe' — which appears on millions…

Spanish/Basque

pelota

The Spanish word for a ball — borrowed from Latin pila…

Cree

pimîhkân

The most calorie-dense portable food in human history…

Welsh / Brythonic Celtic

pennant

PEN-ant

A triangular flag that flies from every yacht mast and…

Scots English

pernickety

Americans added an extra 's' to this Scottish word for…

Kurdish

پێشمەرگە

peshmerga

The armed fighters of Kurdistan are named with a…

Ancient Egyptian/Greek

Φάρος

Pharos

A small island off the coast of Alexandria gave its…

Latin from Greek (Phasis, Colchis)

phasianus

The game bird on English country estates carries the…

French (Provençal)

picaillon

A tiny copper coin from Piedmont traveled to Louisiana…

Spanish from Carib

piragua

The dugout canoe that carried indigenous Caribbean…

Old French from Medieval Latin

pichier

The pitcher and the beaker are the same word — split…

Pitjantjatjara (Australian Aboriginal language)

Pitjantjatjara

The name of an Aboriginal language and people means…

Old English (Germanic)

plōg

The tool that ended nomadic life for most of humanity…

Algonquian (Mohegan-Pequot)

Podunk

Podunk — meaning a small unimportant place — was…

English (origin disputed)

poker

Poker is a word whose own etymology is a bluff — its…

Tibetan (via Balti)

པུ་ལུ

pulu

A Tibetan word for a willow root ball became the name…

English (from Greek poly + German Ester)

polyester

Polyester — from Greek poly (many) and German Ester (a…

English from Quechua/Mapudungun

punchu

poncho

A simple hole in a blanket became the most practical…

Japanese (from Dutch)

ポン酢

ponzu

A Japanese sauce with a Dutch name and a Chinese…

K'iche' Maya

Popol Vuh

The creation story of the K'iche' Maya was nearly lost…

French from Old French

potager

The potager — the ornamental kitchen garden that makes…

English and Arabic

potash

potash / kalium

Its English name means pot-ash — literally the residue…

Nuu-chah-nulth (Wakashan)

p'ácʼaɬ

p'acal

Potlatch named a ceremony in which the host gave…

Massachusett / Narragansett (Algonquian)

pauwau

Powwow entered English as a word for an Indigenous…

Latin (from praecēdere, to go before)

praecēdēns

The legal concept of precedent — that past decisions…

German from Latin

Brezel

A monk twisted dough into the shape of arms crossed in…

New Latin (from Greek)

Protea

Linnaeus named South Africa's most spectacular flower…

Nigerian Pidgin English

puff-puff

West African street food named for the sound of dough…

Cornish / Middle Welsh

puffin

PUF-in

The improbable-looking seabird with its rainbow bill…

English (multiple origins)

punter

Punt means three unrelated things — to kick a ball, to…

Pipil (Nahuatl variant)

pupusawa

El Salvador's national dish has a name that means…

Urdu/Hindi from Persian

پردہ

pardah

Purdah — the practice of female seclusion, and the…

Hindi (patti) via British India

puttees

The spiral leg-wrappings that British soldiers wore…

Greek (via French)

pylon

A pylon was first the monumental gateway of an…

French (from Latin quartus)

quart

A quart is a quarter — specifically, one quarter of a…

Celtic / Old French

cé / kai

quay

The waterfront platform where ships tie up to load and…

Spanish (quince + años + -era)

quinceañera

The celebration of a girl's fifteenth birthday as a…

Spanish (from a literary character)

Quijote

A fictional knight who tilted at windmills gave…

English (acronym)

RADAR

A wartime acronym for detecting invisible aircraft by…

New Latin (named 1821, for Stamford Raffles)

Rafflesia

Rafflesia arnoldii is the world's largest individual…

Bulgarian

ракия

rakia

A Balkan spirit word became a regional identity test…

English from Spanish or French

rapier

RAY-pee-ər

The thrusting sword that redefined honor, masculinity,…

Middle Dutch / Old Norse

rif

The Dutch called the dangerous ridge of rock or sand…

Venetian Italian

regata

Gondoliers racing on the Grand Canal gave the world…

English from Japanese

人力車

jinrikisha

The 'human-powered vehicle' was invented in Japan,…

Kashmiri

rogan josh

The name means boiling oil, not the lamb dish the…

German (Swiss dialect)

Rucksack

A Swiss-German back-sack climbed the Alps and…

English (Caribbean colonial)

rum

The spirit that powered the triangular slave trade,…

Cuban Spanish1

rumba

Born in the dockside solares of Havana and Matanzas,…

English (slang)

rum

Rummy — the card game — may derive from rum rummy, an…

Kinyarwanda

Rwanda

Rwanda preserves the name of a fifteenth-century…

Provençal/Italian/Arabic (< Latin sapere)

sabir

The medieval Mediterranean's trade pidgin took its…

Russian (from Slavic)

соболь

sobol'

A small Siberian weasel had fur so valuable it drove…

Narragansett Algonquian (New England)

sachem

The word for a paramount chief of the Algonquian…

Abenaki

sôgemak

sagamore

Colonial English borrowed a title, then used it like a…

Old French via medieval Latin via Byzantine Greek

samite

The 'mystic samite' of Arthurian legend -- the cloth…

Spanish (from Hebrew)

San José

San Jose

A California city carries a Hebrew name that predates…

Latin via Greek

San Sebastián

A martyred soldier's Greek title became a Basque…

Sanskrit via Bengali

sandesh

Bengal named a sweet after a message because sweets…

Greek from Hebrew/Sanskrit

σάπφειρος

sappheiros

A gemstone name that traveled from ancient India to…

Latin from Greek (Sardinia)

sardina

The small oily fish packed into tins was named for the…

Halkomelem (Salish)

sasquatch

Sasquatch comes from Halkomelem sasq'ets, a word from…

Algonquian (via Spanish)

sassafras

A tree whose root bark once flavored an entire…

English (from Hindi/Persian)

seersucker

The puckered striped cloth that became the uniform of…

Muscogean / Spanish

Simanoli

The Seminole were not an ancient nation — they formed…

Turkish / Italian

sikke / zecchino

sikke

An Ottoman gold coin stamped at the imperial mint --…

Cherokee

Sequoyah

A Cherokee inventor's name became the name of Earth's…

French (from Swiss dialect)

sérac

Sérac — a Swiss cheese lent its name to the white ice…

Latin (through Old French sergent)

serviens

A sergeant was originally a servant — the word comes…

Lepcha

serow

An East Himalayan goat gave English a name through a…

Arabic (from Egyptian)

šdwf

sha-DOOF

The counterweighted lever that lifts water from the…

Persian / Old Iranian

شاه

shāh

The Persian word for king — shāh — is hiding in plain…

Arabic (via Libyan-Tunisian)

שקשוקה

shakshuka

The egg dish beloved from Tel Aviv to Brooklyn has a…

Tungusic (Evenki)

шаман

shaman

From Siberian tundra to therapy offices—a spiritual…

English (based on Tibetan Shambhala)

Shangri-La

Shangri-La (English coinage)

A hidden Himalayan paradise where people live for…

Persian via Hindi

شال

shāl

The Kashmir wrap that warmed empresses and became…

Yoruba (Nigeria)

șẹkẹrẹ

The shekere is a Yoruba beaded gourd whose name…

Arabic via Turkish/Persian

شَرْبَة

sharba

The Arabic drink became Turkish delight became frozen…

Tibetan/Nepali

ཤར་པ

sherpa

An ethnic group became a job description — the Sherpa…

English (American, possibly from chemise)

shimmy

The shimmy may be named after a French nightgown — the…

Ga

shito

Ghana's fiery black sauce is simply the Ga word for…

Ndebele (Bantu)

Shona

shona

A colonial label given by raiders became the official…

Old English (sibb + -ling)

sibling

The word was nearly extinct for centuries — Old…

Akkadian / Sumerian tradition

sīrum

SEE-rum

The tower that stores grain on every farm and the…

Swahili (from English)

simu

The Swahili word for telephone is simu — a borrowing…

Hokkien (Min Nan Chinese)

先生

sinseh

In the shophouses of Southeast Asia, a word for…

Norwegian from Old Norse

ski

The Norwegian word for 'stick of wood' became winter's…

Chinook Jargon1

skukum

skookum

A frontier trade word still means strong because…

English from Faroese

skua

This seabird's English name is an island accent…

Middle English / Germanic

slēt

A word from the cold margins of Germanic Europe —…

Spanish (sobre + mesa)

sobremesa

Spanish has a single word for the unhurried time spent…

Halkomelem

sθə́qəy̓

sockeye

A salmon name crossed a trade jargon and became a…

Hindi / English

solar topee

A pith helmet that crossed continents on one borrowed…

Somali

Somalia

somalia

A Cushitic patriarch's name expanded into a…

English acronym

Sound Navigation And Ranging

acronym

The ocean is dark and silent until you send a pulse.…

English from Arabic/Turkish/Persian

شربت

sharbat

An Arabic word for 'drink' froze into Italian sorbet —…

Congolese French

soukous

One French jolt became the sound of Kinshasa dancing.

Hokkien Chinese via Japanese

醬油

jiàngyóu (Mandarin) / jiu4 jau4 (Cantonese) / siyu (Hokkien)

English borrowed the word for soy sauce from Japanese,…

English (possibly Irish English)

dispatch cock

Spatchcock — splitting a bird flat for faster roasting…

Middle English (Scots)

spate

A Scottish dialect word for a sudden river flood…

Irish (Gaelic)

spraoi

spree

The English word for an unrestrained burst of activity…

Trinidadian English1

steelpan

The only acoustic instrument invented in the 20th…

French (from Spanish estacada, from estaca, 'stake')

estacade

A stockade is a fence made of stakes — and also a…

Old English from Proto-Germanic

strēam

stream

The Old English word for a river flowing without pause…

Pali / Sanskrit

སྟུ་པ

stupa

The stupa is a mound of earth over relics that became…

Neo-Latin1

helianthus

The flower that turns to face the sun was given a…

Modern Latin hybrid

super + conductor

At temperatures colder than outer space, certain…

English from Latin via Arabic

surd

The Arabic word for a deaf, speechless number — one…

Surinen (indigenous)

Suriname

An entire nation carries the name of a people the…

Arabic via Bantu

Swahili

swahili

The name of East Africa's most widely spoken language…

SiSwati via English

Swaziland

swaziland

Named for a king who died before anyone wrote it down.

Proto-Germanic

Sweden

sweden

Sweden named itself after a tribe whose own name no…

English (origin obscure)

syllabub

SIL-uh-bub

An Elizabethan dessert of cream whipped with wine or…

English from Tongan

tabu

taboo

Captain Cook brought back another word from the…

Arabic (via Berber)

طاجين

tagine

The North African stew and the clay pot it cooks in…

Totonac

tajín

tajin

An ancient Totonac city gave its name to a chili-lime…

French (from Galibi)

tamarin

A tiny monkey with a lion's mane got its name from an…

Turkic / Mongolian

тамга

tamga

The ancient Turkic-Mongolian word for a clan's…

Arabic / French place name

Tanger

The small, easy-peel citrus fruit takes its name from…

Spanish/Río de la Plata

tango

Born in the brothels of Buenos Aires — a dance so…

Portuguese, from Sanskrit/Gujarati tānkī

tanque

The armored vehicle that changed warfare in the First…

English (coined from Tanzania)

tanzanite

A blue stone found in only one place on earth — a few…

Tongan/Polynesian

tapa

Tapa is the broad Polynesian family of bark cloths.…

Malay (from Tupi via Portuguese)

tapir

The same word names both the ancient tapirs of South…

French from Indian trade

tarlatane

The stiffened cotton that gave ballet tutus their…

Samoan / Proto-Polynesian

talo

taro

Taro is not just a crop — it is, in Hawaiian…

Scottish English (possibly Old French)

tartan

The crisscrossed woolen pattern that identifies…

French (from the Tatar peoples)

Tatare

tar-TAR

A dish of raw beef served with capers and egg yolk…

English from Tahitian/Samoan

tatau

tattoo

Captain Cook heard a sound—tap, tap, tap—and brought…

French (from German + French)

taxamètre + cabriolet

A taxicab is two words from two languages fused…

Chinese (Mandarin chá / Hokkien te)

茶

chá / te

The most consumed beverage on Earth after water owes…

Spanish (tele + novela)

telenovela

The Spanish word for a serialized television drama is…

New Latin (from Greek tēle + skopeîn)

telescopium

The telescope was not invented by Galileo — it was…

Greek + Latin hybrid

τηλε + visio

tele + visio

Two ancient languages collided to name a technology…

Japanese from Portuguese

天ぷら

tempura

Portuguese missionaries brought battered frying to…

Old Turkic / Mongolian

тэнгэр

tengri

The ancient Turkic and Mongolian word for the eternal…

Lakota (Siouan)

thípi

The conical hide dwelling that defines visual…

Wolof (Senegal)

teranga

te-ranga

Senegalese hospitality so complete it is a duty, a…

Algonquian (Virginia Algonquian)

torope

Terrapin entered English from the Virginia Algonquian…

Spanish (origin disputed; possibly Tertullian)

tertulia

The Spanish word for an informal literary gathering —…

Serbian-American (eponym)

Tesla

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor who…

Latin/Greek

testis + stereos + -one

testosterone

The Romans called a testicle a 'witness' to manhood.…

Caddo

Texas

A state named for a word meaning friends, spoken by…

New Latin (from Greek thermós + métron)

thermometrum

The thermometer was invented before scientists agreed…

Greek (from Persian)

τιάρα

tiára

The Pope's triple crown and the plastic headband sold…

Anglo-Indian English (from British slang, adopted into Hindi)

टिफ़िन

ṭifin (Hindi, borrowed back from English)

An old English slang word for a light snack traveled…

French / Arabic

timbale

The timbale traces to an Arabic word for a kettle drum…

Galibi Carib

tinamu

tinamou

An almost invisible forest bird gave Europe one of its…

Spanish (Peru)

tiradito

Japanese sashimi technique gave a Spanish diminutive a…

Nahuatl (Oaxacan)

tlayuda

Oaxaca's largest tortilla started as a farm worker's…

Ewe

Togo

In Ewe, togo names the exact place where a lagoon…

Hungarian from possibly Slavic

tokaj

A Hungarian wine region's name may come from a Slavic…

Medieval Latin (from Greek telos)

tolneum

Toll roads, death tolls, and church bells tolling…

Algonquian (Powhatan/Renápe)

tamahak

The Virginia Algonquian word for a stone-headed…

Cornish / Old Welsh

tor

TOR

The great rocky outcrops that crown the moorland hills…

Latin American Spanish

torrejas

A Lenten bread soaked in wine survived five centuries…

Latin (from Greek týrris)

turris

Tower comes from a word so old that even the Greeks…

South African English (origin debated, possibly Shona/Ndebele)

toyi-toyi

Toyi-toyi is the South African protest dance — a…

Middle Low German / Scots

tram

A coal mine rail word that became the name of the…

Old French (from Latin traditio)

traïson

Treason and tradition are the same Latin word —…

English dialectal

troll

A word that may have meant to roll or to stroll was…

Old French (from Latin trulla)

truele

Archaeologists and bricklayers use the same tool for…

Tswana

tsessebe

One of Africa's fastest antelopes entered English…

Tswana (Setswana)

tsètsè

The tsetse fly has a name that means simply 'fly' in…

Tswana (Bantu)

tsetse

The name of the fly that shaped the entire history of…

Tsotsitaal (South African township slang)

tsotsi

Tsotsi is South African slang for a street criminal or…

English from Latin tuberosa

polyanthes tuberosa

tuberose

The flower they called the queen of the night — so…

Algonquian (Virginia)

tuckahoe

A survival food word became a place name and social…

Russian from Yakut

тунгус

tungus

The Russian name for the Evenki people is now…

Latin (from Semitic)

tunica

The simple T-shaped garment worn by Roman slaves and…

French (from Arabic, from Phoenician)

Tunisia

Tunisia may carry the name of a goddess who guarded…

Dagbani

tuo zaafi

tuo-zaafi

The Dagomba name for hot porridge outlasted every…

Māori (Aotearoa/New Zealand)

turangawaewae

tu-ranga-wae-wae

A place to stand. The ground where you have the right…

Old Turkic1

Turkey

turkey

The Turks gave the world a name for a bird they had…

Hindi via English

tussah

TUS-uh

While the world knows the silk of the domesticated…

Tuvaluan

Tuvalu

tuvalu

Tuvalu means eight standing together, though nine…

Scots1

tweel

A misread scrawl of a Scottish word — tweel, the local…

English (possibly from Wolof)

twerk

An ancient dance move emerged from West African…

Twi (Akan)

Twi

twi

Missionaries spelled it four ways before the language…

English from multiple origins

typhoon

Three ancient words from three continents—Greek,…

Greek from Turkish

τζατζίκι

tzatziki

The yogurt sauce that traveled from Central Asia to…

Polish / Turkic origin

ułan

ulan / uhlan

The lancer cavalry who became the most feared and…

Italian (from Latin umbra, 'shadow')

ombrella

An umbrella is literally a 'little shadow' — from the…

Zulu / Xhosa

umkhonto

Umkhonto means 'spear' in Zulu and Xhosa. It was the…

Xhosa / Zulu

umqombothi

Umqombothi is a traditional South African beer brewed…

Proto-Polynesian1

umu

A hole in the ground became a map of the Pacific.

Indian English

updation

Where standard English says update, a billion speakers…

Serbian/South Slavic

вампир

vampir

A Serbian word for the undead travelled from Balkan…

Latin (from Germanic tribal name)

Vandalī

Vandali

A Germanic people sacked Rome for two weeks — and…

Spanish from Nahuatl

vainilla

The world's most popular flavor is named after a body…

Melanesian (Bislama)

Vanuatu

vanuatu

The name a newly independent nation chose for itself…

Spanish (vaca + -ero)

vaquero

The American cowboy, the rodeo, the lasso, the ranch,…

Romani (from Ossetic/Iranian)

vardo

vardo / vordon

The iconic painted wagon of the Romani traveler—the…

English from Old French from Latin

vellum

VEL-əm

The finest writing surface of the medieval world was…

French (Old French, from Germanic)

fournir

A veneer is a beautiful lie in wood — a thin slice of…

Spanish (diminutive of Venezia)

Venezuela

venezuela

Amerigo Vespucci saw stilt houses over a lake and…

Portuguese from Hindi/Bengali

varanda

A word that circled the tropics—from India to Portugal…

Portuguese (possibly from Hindi बरांडा)

varanda

The colonial porch that connected empire to tropics.

English from Tamil via French

vettiver

vetiver

A grass root so tenacious it holds riverbanks together…

Haitian Creole/Fon

vèvè

Sacred symbols drawn on the ground in Haitian Vodou…

Portuguese via Indian English

vindaloo

The British curry that's actually Portuguese wine —…

Tausug / Yakan (Philippines)

vinta

The Tausug sailboat with its rainbow-colored sails is…

Latin/Polish (coined term)

vitamine

Vitamin was invented by a Polish biochemist who…

Fon/Ewe (West African)

vodun

A sacred religion became a slur—then began reclaiming…

Dutch / Middle Dutch

wafel

The grid-patterned cake came to English with its Dutch…

English (from Middle Dutch wagenschot)

wainscot

Wainscot is the wood paneling on the lower half of a…

English (waist + coat)

waistcoat

A waistcoat is a coat for the waist — one of the most…

Kabi Kabi

wallum

A whole landscape in Queensland survives in one…

Dutch (from Old Norse)

hvalros

Vikings called it 'whale-horse' - and that strange…

Massachusett (Algonquian)

wampompeag

Wampum was not beads for decoration — it was a…

Chinook Jargon (from Native American sources)

wapato

A wetland tuber named a place before maps named the…

Shawnee

wapiti

America's biggest deer is named for the patch of white…

Frankish1

war

War began as a word for confusion.

Thai from Pali/Sanskrit

วัด

wát

The Thai temple complex that anchors every village in…

English (calque from German)

watershed

The word meant a ridge that divides two river systems…

Scottish (surname)

Watt

The unit of power on every lightbulb, every motor, and…

Algonquian (Ojibwe/Cree)

wendigo

A wendigo is a cannibalistic spirit from Algonquian…

English from Afrikaans

wildebeest

WIL-duh-beest

Dutch settlers arriving in southern Africa named this…

English (early modern, from Dutch or Low German)

wolvering

The most ferocious mustelid in the world — pound for…

Kaurna1

wurley

A hut word crossed into English and became a whole…

Woi wurrung

Wurundjeri

wurundjeri

The grub that hollows the manna gum's bark gave a…

Nguni Bantu

Xhosa

xhosa

A Khoikhoi name for fierce strangers became the…

Greek (coined 1866)

ξυλόφωνον

xylophōnon

The word xylophone — Greek for 'wood voice' — was…

Yagara (Australian Aboriginal)

yakka

The Australian word for hard work — 'hard yakka' — is…

Syriac → Persian

یلدا

Yalda

The Persian winter solstice festival takes its name…

Portuguese (from West African)

inhame

A staple food of West Africa reached European tables…

Chukchi

яранга

yaranga

Siberia built a house that walked with the reindeer.

Guaraní / Quechua

ka'a mati

Yerba mate is the infused leaf of a South American…

South Slavic

Yugoslavia

yugoslavia

The Slavic word for south built a country, then…

Turkic (via Russian)

yurt

Portable homes that crossed continents—the…

Tonga (Bantu)

Zambia

zambia

A river's Bantu name outlasted every colonial boundary…

Greek (from Hebrew qanna'im)

ζηλωτής

zelotes

Jewish resistance fighters who chose death over Roman…

Amharic / Tigrinya

ዘቡ

zebu

Every hump-shouldered cattle breed from Rajasthan to…

Persian via Hindi/Urdu

زنانه

zanāna

The women's quarters of South Asian households — named…

Kongo/Kikongo

nzambi

The undead of Haiti and Hollywood speak with a Central…

French Antillean Creole

zouk

Zouk — the ecstatic popular music and dance of the…

Turkish (from Persian)

zurna

The reed flute that has called people to weddings,…

Louisiana Creole French

zarico

A word likely born from the Creole pronunciation of…

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