loanword

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of loanword For instance, people, a French loanword, may be spelled peple, pepill, poeple, or poepul. Big Think, 10 Apr. 2025 The newest dictionary additions include loanwords from Southeast Asia, South Africa and Ireland. Peter Guo, NBC news, 27 Mar. 2025 In fact, Mandarin itself used thousands of loanwords from Japanese and English when new disciplines such as sociology and natural science entered China’s curricula a mere century ago. Tenzin Dorjee, Foreign Affairs, 28 Nov. 2023 During this period, more than 10,000 loanwords from French entered the English language, mostly in domains where the aristocracy held sway: the arts, military, medicine, law and religion. Phillip M. Carter, Fortune Well, 12 June 2023 Most English loanwords borrow from languages that, like English, use the Latin alphabet. Sarah Bunin Benor, The Conversation, 21 May 2020 With the mega-success of Starbucks and its various coffee competitors, BARISTA has transformed from a somewhat niche Italian loanword to a term most everyone not only knows but uses regularly. Ryan P. Smith, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Dec. 2019 And so the language planners, led by linguist Ari Páll Kristinsson, are working furiously to match every English word or concept with an Icelandic one—giving young Icelanders no excuse for depending on loanwords learned online. Caitlin Hu, Quartz, 2 June 2019 Each provided loanwords, words adopted from a donor language without translation. Courtney Linder, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for loanword
Noun
  • Ever since Elon Musk bought X, the platform’s production of novel slang, metonyms, catchphrases, and other neologisms has fallen precipitously.
    Dan Brooks, The Atlantic, 21 Feb. 2025
  • Almost all philosophical ideas come nested in a complex backdrop of neologisms, foreign concepts, and alternative worldviews.
    Jonny Thomson, Big Think, 16 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • From the July/August 2014 issue: The power of two McCartney and John Lennon were mesmerized by these nonsensical yet lyrical coinages.
    Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic, 31 Mar. 2025
  • No need for foolishly wasting precious coinage on chicken scratching.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • This could involve helping systems learn colloquialisms and proper usages of terms.
    Kathy Kristof, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Mar. 2025
  • You would be forgiven for assuming this a playful colloquialism, perhaps revealing a tenderness to the hunt.
    Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes, 6 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • That euphemism for prostitution represents a change in cultural standards, some would say the degradation of traditional ethics about women and men and social roles.
    Armond White, National Review, 5 Mar. 2025
  • The phrase is typically a euphemism for leaving discreetly, often to use the restroom.
    Russel Honoré, Newsweek, 5 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Narrator Mary Lewis, raised in Newfoundland herself, delivers the book in a manner that seems stilted at first but grows more appealing as Lewis moves further into the story, with its pleasing archaisms and evocation of balked communication.
    Katherine A. Powers, Washington Post, 21 Jan. 2020
  • That phrase, which may strike some young American ears as an archaism if not an oxymoron, is worth unpacking, and Amis provides readers with a pocket account of the historical preconditions of his extravagant fame.
    A.O. SCOTT, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2018
Noun
  • Trump renegotiated the free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico in his first term.
    Rob Gillies, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2025
  • Handling Exceptions & Unique Scenarios While AI excels at automating routine tasks, sales orders can involve highly specific contractual terms, customer preferences or unusual requests that may require human judgment.
    Uli Erxleben, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • The abode brings together a few different design inspirations, from classic midcentury modernism to Japanese wabi-sabi philosophy.
    Tori Latham, Robb Report, 31 Mar. 2025
  • To Sickert that would have been an insult; his modernism was defined by slovenliness.
    Eliza Goodpasture, ARTnews.com, 27 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Loanword.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/loanword. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.

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