Spanish Words of French Origin

Questions This Article Answers

Examples of Spanish words that come from French?

What does galicismo mean?

Why do many Spanish words for food sound like French words?

What are some French loanwords used in Spanish?

Adaptations, Calques, and Loanwords

• A linguistic adaptación(adaptation) is a word or phrase taken from another language but adapted to the target language for phonologic, lexical, or syntactic reasons. For example, breeze is an adaptation of the Spanish word brisa.

• A calco(calque) is a word or phrase translated literally into another language. For example, roadrunner is a calque of the Spanish word correcaminos (correr: to run + caminos: roads).

• A préstamo lingüístico(loanword) is a word or phrase taken from another language and used in its original form. For example, patio is a loanword taken from Spanish.

Learn more loanwords and regional varieties of Spanish with these articles:

• Ladino and Judeo-Spanish

• Loanwords in Spanish

• Pronunciation of English Loanwords in Spanish

• Spanish Words of African Origin

• Spanish Words of Arabic Origin

• Spanish Words of Basque Origin

• Spanish Words of Catalan Origin

• Spanish Words of Galician Origin

• Spanish Words of Germanic Origin

• Spanish Words of Italian Origin

• Spanish Words of Japanese Origin

• Spanish Words of Nahuatl Origin

• Spanish Words of Portuguese Origin

• Spanish Words of Quechua Origin

• Spanish Words of Romani Origin

• Spanish Words of Slavic Origin