As a historical colony of the United States, the

Philippine English Philippine English (similar and related to American English) is any variety of English native to the Philippines, including those used by the media and the vast majority of educated Filipinos and English learners in the Philippines from adjac ...

lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...

shares most of its vocabulary from American English, but also has loanwords from native languages and Spanish, as well as some usages, coinages, and slang peculiar to the Philippines. Some Philippine English usages are borrowed from or shared with

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Commonwealth English The use of the English language in current and former Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British Empire, British colonisation, with some exceptions. English s ...

, for various reasons. Due to the influence of the Spanish language, Philippine English also contains Spanish-derived terms, including Anglicizations, some resulting in

false friend In linguistics, a false friend is either of two words in different languages that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning. Examples include English ''embarrassed'' and Spanish ''embarazada'' 'pregnant'; English ''parents'' ...

s, such as " salvage". Philippine English also borrowed words from Philippine languages, especially native plant and animal names (e.g.

ampalaya ''Momordica charantia'' (commonly called bitter melon; Goya; bitter apple; bitter gourd; bitter squash; balsam-pear; with many more names listed below) is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown in Asia, Afr ...

balimbing Carambola, also known as star fruit, is the fruit of ''Averrhoa carambola'', a species of tree native to tropical Southeast Asia. The mildly poisonous fruit is commonly consumed in parts of Brazil, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Oceania, Sou ...

), and cultural concepts with no exact English equivalents (e.g.

kilig In the context of Philippine culture, the Tagalog word ''"kilig"'' refers to the feeling of excitement due to various love circumstances such as making first eye contact with one's crush or watching another person propose to someone. The term k ...

); some borrowings from Philippine languages have entered mainstream English, such as abaca and

ylang-ylang ''Cananga odorata'', known as ylang-ylang ( ) or cananga tree, is a tropical tree that is native to the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Queensland, Australia. It is also native to parts of Thailand and Viet ...

. Some terms are only used in some regions. Examples are ''bringhouse'' (bringing food home from fiestas), which is only used in the Visayas, and ''haggard'' (police on motorcycles), which is used only in Visayas and Mindanao.

Words with meanings differing from standard English

Words, expressions or usages peculiar to Philippine English

Words with Philippine origin

This is a list of English words which originate from any of the

Philippine languages The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (languages ...

Rail terminology

The following

railfan A railfan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff or trainspotter (Australian/British English), or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems. Rail ...

terms are used in the country.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations are often punctuated in Philippine English when they are usually not, and some abbreviations are unique to Philippine usage.

Comparison with other varieties

Where British and American English vocabulary differs, in different circumstances Philippine English favors: * A usage which is shared with British English, as with ''cinema'' (US: ''movie theater''); or ''pedestrian crossing/lane'' (US: ''crosswalk'') * A usage which is shared with American English, as with ''truck'' (UK: ''lorry''); or ''

eggplant Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Mos ...

'' (UK: ''aubergine'')

British English terms not commonly used in Philippine English

British English terms not commonly used in Philippine English include:

American English terms not commonly used in Philippine English

American English terms not commonly found in Philippine English include:

Idioms

There are instances where Philippine English idioms are borrowed from British English as opposed to American English or American English as opposed to British English such as: * ''A drop in the ocean'' (as with UK usage) as opposed to US ''a drop in the bucket'' * ''Home away from home'' (as with US usage) as opposed to UK ''home from home'' * ''Take with a pinch of salt'' (as with UK usage) as opposed to US ''take with a grain of salt'' * ''Knock on wood'' (as with US usage) as opposed to UK ''touch wood'' * ''Wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole'' (as with US usage) as opposed to UK ''wouldn't touch with a barge pole'' * ''Slowpoke'' (as with US usage) as opposed to UK ''slowcoach'' There are also instances where British idioms are prominently used in Philippine English such as: ''actions speak louder than words'', ''an arm and a leg'', ''barking up the wrong tree'', ''beat around the bush'', ''don't cry over spilt milk'', ''it takes two to tango'', ''kill two birds with one stone'' and ''steal someone's thunder''. There are also instances where American idioms are prominently used in Philippine English such as: ''before you know it'', ''call it a day'', ''down in the dumps'', ''get the hang of it'', ''hang in there'', ''so far so good'', ''two peas in a pod'' and ''under the weather''.

References

{{reflist Philippine English Lexis (linguistics) Vocabulary