Let’s see how much of a linguist you are.
You are playing as a guest. Sign in to save your progress & unlock rewards!English is full of borrowed words from different languages. While it is the most widely spoken language in the world today, it is a more varied melting pot than you think. As much as 80 per cent of the English language is composed of loanwords. They have been blended, moulded, changed, mixed and adopted from a multitude of languages like Latin, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Scandinavian, Japanese, Arabic, amongst others.
And it works both ways too. Many languages of the world have also borrowed quite a few English words. Borrowing and lending of words happens because of cultural contact between two communities that speak different languages. Some of the most common loanwords are related to food, like croissant, dim sum, sushi, and many others. Thatโs because many foods are closely connected to a particular culture, and other languages often don't always have words for foods from other cultures.
Try this quiz and see if you can figure out which English loanwords originate from German and which ones have their roots in Italian.
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6 Comments
18 / 20
13 / 5 / 26
I got 20 out of 20!
Excellent performance! You aced this quiz like a true linguist. Your knowledge of different languages knows no bounds.
There are clues to follow: what looks like a compound English word is from German. Words ending in a vowel are Italian.
18/20 True Linguist Don’t think so, maybe just get by in abitof German,Italian,Spanish but certainly not a linguist in any stretch of imagination.
18/20
17/20
17/20