A great number of words of
French origin have entered the
English language
English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...
to the extent that many Latin words have come to the English language. According to
different sources, 45% of all English words have a French origin.
This suggests that 80,000 words should appear in this list; this list, however, only includes words imported directly from French, such as both
joy
The word joy refers to the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, and is typically associated with feelings of intense, long lasting happiness.
Dictionary definitions
Dictionary definitions of joy typically include a sense of ...
and
joyous, and does not include derivatives formed in English of words borrowed from French, including
joyful,
joyfulness,
partisanship
A partisan is a committed member of a political party or army. In multi-party systems, the term is used for persons who strongly support their party's policies and are reluctant to compromise with political opponents. A political partisan is no ...
, and
parenthood. It also excludes both combinations of words of French origin with words whose origin is a language other than French — e.g.,
ice cream
Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...
,
sunray,
jellyfish
Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...
,
killjoy
Killjoy may refer to:
Characters
* Killjoy, in Charlton Comics' ''E-Man'' series
* Killjoy, in the video game ''Valorant''
* Killjoy, in the Marvel Comics series '' Weapon P.R.I.M.E.''
* Killjoy, in the movie ''The Ice Pirates''
* Dr. Killjoy, i ...
,
lifeguard
A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and CPR/ AED first a ...
, and