loanword

Definition of loanwordnext

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 Which brings us to the ménage à trois — for some things, only a French loanword will do — between Hayley, Yasmin, and Henry, which exists at the opposite end of the boundary-setting spectrum. Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 26 Jan. 2026 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for loanword
Noun
  • Are these neologisms diagnosing modern phenomena or illuminating preëxisting cultural realities?
    Brady Brickner-Wood, New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2025
  • These neologisms weren’t just clever.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Her liberty cap bears stars and stripes, at once a symbol of our burgeoning Nation and a reference to early American coinage.
    Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 14 Mar. 2026
  • This book is a deeply scholarly, policy-relevant history of money, from the advent of coinage, paper currency, and bank money in ancient, medieval, and early modern times to the stablecoins and central bank digital currencies of today and tomorrow.
    Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025
Noun
  • The exhibit’s title is derived from a Spanish colloquialism.
    Uwa Ede-Osifo, Dallas Morning News, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Her vetting crusades have brought about a new Washington colloquialism.
    Antonia Hitchens, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • When Oklahoma missed out on the NCAA Tournament, AD Roger Denny announced that coach Porter Moser was staying and offered up one of the great euphemisms of this era.
    Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Now there were no euphemisms for Germany’s leader.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 Feb. 2026
Noun
  • What are terms of the BofA settlement?
    Chase Jordan, Charlotte Observer, 30 Mar. 2026
  • One called Rabin’s government a Judenrat, the Nazi term for Jewish councils appointed to oversee ghettos.
    Eyal Press, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026
Noun
  • An exploration of early 20th-century modernism in the Austrian capital, the album features compositions by Alban Berg, Anton Webern and Erwin Schulhoff.
    Arts Editor, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2026
  • Built in 1975, the four-bedroom abode is a significant example of desert modernism in the American Southwest.
    Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 18 Mar. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Loanword.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/loanword. Accessed 30 Mar. 2026.

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