German words from English
16 German words with English in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
Dollar
It is borrowed from English dollar, the American English name of the currency. Pfeifer dates the borrowing to the 18th century, Duden to the 19th. The English word goes back to Low German dāler, the…
Fan
It is borrowed from English fan (“enthusiastic supporter”), borrowed in the middle of the 20th century. The English word, which came to German from American usage, is a shortening of fanatic…
Film
It is borrowed from English film (“thin skin, membrane; coating”), from Old English filmen (“membrane, thin skin”), a word of the Germanic family of Fell. The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch traces the…
Foto
It is a shortening of Fotografie, which is borrowed from English photography, a learned coinage of the astronomer J. F. W. Herschel in 1839 from Ancient Greek φῶς (phôs, “light”) (genitive φωτός…
in
1. The preposition is inherited from Middle High German in, inherited from Old High German in, inherited from Proto-Germanic *in, older *eni. The same word is Gothic 𐌹𐌽 (in), Old Norse í, Old…
international
It is borrowed from English international, a word coined in 1789 by the jurist Jeremy Bentham in his “Principles of Morals and Legislation”, in the phrase international law. Bentham meant it to…
Internet
It is borrowed from English internet, recorded in German from the second half of the 20th century. The sources explain the English word differently. Duden and the Duden dictionary analyse it as a…
Interview
It is borrowed from English interview, adopted about 1870 from the language of American journalists. The English noun is an anglicised form of French entrevue (“meeting”), a noun derived from…
Klub
It is borrowed from English club, taken over in the middle of the 18th century as one of the first English words of social life, together with the custom of such closed societies. The English word…
Konzern
It is borrowed from English concern (“business, firm; interest”), a noun from the English verb meaning “to relate to, affect”. The verb comes through French concerner (“to concern”) from Medieval…
Partner
It is borrowed from English partner, borrowed at the beginning of the 19th century. The English word, in use since the 14th century, is a reshaping after part of Middle English parcener (“partaker…
Sport
It is borrowed from English sport (“amusement, pastime, outdoor recreation”), borrowed in the first half of the 19th century. The English word is a shortening of Middle English disport (“diversion…
Start
It is borrowed from English start, borrowed in the second half of the 19th century in the language of horse racing. The English noun is a nominalization of the verb “to start”, Middle English…
starten
It is borrowed from English start (“to set off, begin”), borrowed in the second half of the 19th century, first in horse racing; the noun Start was taken from English at about the same time. The…
Team
It is borrowed from English team, which continues Old English tēam (“offspring, family; team of draught animals”). The English word is related to Zaum, so that the German noun is a doublet of the…
Trainer
It is borrowed from English trainer, the agent noun of the verb train (“to bring up, school, break in”), which also gave trainieren. The English verb is from Old French traïner (“to drag, trail”)…