Arabic Loanwords In English

The Arabic language has contributed hundreds of words to the English language by many different routes. That’s partly because in what my daughter likes to call the olden days (from around 700AD to the Middle Ages), the Arabic kingdoms had a great influence on Europe and the world. In part this was through colonisation, but there were also many great mathematicians, alchemists and astronomers.

Of course, language development is not that simple. Not all the words that have entered English via Arabic originate from that language. Linguistically speaking, the Arabs borrowed as freely as they lent and their language included words originating from Spanish, Latin, Greek, Persian, Hebrew and many others. Many of the words start with the Arabic definite article ‘al’, which also appears in silent form without the l in words such as admiral. Here’s a list of some of the common words that the Arabic language has bequeathed to English.

admiral
adobe
alchemy - via Greek
alcohol - the quintessence of earthly substances, originally from alchemy
alcove
algebra - restoration of missing parts, later used in a 9th century mathematical book written by a Persian scientist whose name gave us algorithm
almanac
amber
apricot
arsenal - factory
assassin - hashish user
artichoke
aubergine
burnoose - via Latin
caliber
carat - via Greek
checkmate
coffee - possibly from the name Kefa, where the coffee plant originates
cotton
divan
elixir - medicinal potion, via Greek
gauze - from the Persian for raw silk
gazelle
genie
giraffe
harem
hashish
henna
jasmine - from Arabic via French
kohl
lilac, from Persian for indigo
lime
loofah
lute
magazine - storehouse
mocha - named after a city in Yemen
monsoon
mummy - via Persian
muslin
nadir
orange
safari - from Arabic via Swahili
saffron
sequin
sugar
tamarind
tariff
typhoon
zenith
zero

There’s a fun quiz on Arabic loan words here and more words can be found here.

Sharon on May 31, 2008 Subscribe to our RSS Feed

Bookmark

9 Responses to “Arabic Loanwords In English”

Matilda on May 31st, 2008 2:20 pm

Thanks for this post. You know I got 9 out of 10 on that quiz - I’ve been trying to learn Arabic for the last 6 years now.

I think you should have more quiz’s on this site - I like taking them, I’ve already taken all the ones you have on here!
Matilda on May 31st, 2008 3:01 pm

mar-ha-ba - مرحبا - means ‘hello’ or ‘welcome’ in Arabic

ma’a- sal-ama - مع سلامه - means ‘with peace’ literally, and is used to say ‘bye’
Matilda on May 31st, 2008 3:21 pm

Can quizzes be spelt as quiz’s as well? - because I’ve seen both being used, is it a UK/US difference?
Meg on May 31st, 2008 5:20 pm

Quiz’s is just wrong, unless you’re talking about something that belongs to the quiz. Apostrophes are only used in simple plurals when you are pluralizing lowercase letters (eg., “mind your p’s and q’s”).
D.F. Rucci on May 31st, 2008 6:00 pm

I had no clue those words were arabic. Thanks a lot for the informational post I am learning a lot through your blog.
Matilda on June 1st, 2008 9:32 am

Okay, thanks for clearing that up for me Meg, I really didn’t know as I had seen it spelt that way a few times.
David Hamilton on June 1st, 2008 11:58 am

Very interesting word list. I think I found alcohol and algebra to be the most interesting.
Sharon Hurley Hall on June 1st, 2008 12:19 pm

Thanks for reading, everyone, and for adding to my limited knowledge of Arabic, Matilda.
Matilda on June 2nd, 2008 7:46 pm

You’re very welcome Sharon If you would like to know more, please don’t hesitate to say.

Arabic Loanwords In English

Related Articles

Bookmark

9 Responses to “Arabic Loanwords In English”

Got something to say?

Categories

Our Network

Sponsors

Popular Articles

Recent Articles