Spanish words from French
20 Spanish words with French in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
anciano
It is borrowed from Old French anciien (“ancient, former”), an early borrowing from French or perhaps Occitan, according to Corominas and the Academy. The French word is derived from the adverb ainz…
atrapar
It is borrowed from French attraper (“to catch in a trap; to catch up with”), formed in French from trappe (“trap”). The French verb is recorded as Old French atraper from 1165. The DHLF derives the…
coraje
It is borrowed from Old French corages (“courage”), the Old French nominative of corage, according to the DCECH, the DLE and Moliner. Alonso and García de Diego give Old Occitan coratge as the…
ducha
It is borrowed from French douche, which is from Italian doccia (“water pipe; shower”). Corominas takes the Italian noun as a back-formation from doccione (“large pipe”), from Latin ductiō…
este
1. The word for “east” is probably borrowed from French est, which is from Old English ēast. The first Spanish form, leste, has the French article joined to it, and French has the word from the 12th…
fumar
Corominas takes it as probably borrowed from French fumer (“to smoke”), which had the sense of smoking tobacco from 1664. Wiktionary follows him. The French verb is from Latin fūmāre (“to give off…
liar
Corominas takes it as borrowed from French lier (“to tie, bind”), itself from ligō (“to tie, bind”), because he found it only from the early 17th century, beside the inherited Old Spanish legar and…
maleta
It is borrowed from Old French malete (“small bag, valise”), according to Corominas, a diminutive of male, modern French malle “trunk”, which is from Frankish *malha (“travelling bag”). The French…
malla
It is borrowed from French maille, from Latin macula (“spot; mesh of a net”). Wiktionary gives the chain through Old Spanish malla, Old French maille and Vulgar Latin *macla. The Castilian form of…
maridaje
Corominas takes it to be borrowed from French mariage (“marriage”), adapted to Spanish, and DICCA-XV agrees. The DLE derives it from the verb maridar “to marry; to join”, and Wiktionary as from…
mecha
Corominas considers it probably borrowed from French mèche, taken at an early date; the DLE and Wiktionary present the French source as only possible. Portuguese mecha is the same word, and he…
metro
1. The word for the measure is borrowed from Latin metrum (“measure, especially of verse”), which is from Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”). The DLE gives the Greek word as its source. As the…
norte
It is borrowed from French nord (“north”), which is from Old English norþ (“north”). Corominas and the Breve diccionario take it from Old English, probably through French. The Old French word is…
posar
1. The word for “to rest, to lodge” is inherited from Late Latin pausare (“to cease, halt, rest”), from pausa (“halt, pause”), a loan from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “to stop, make cease”) or from…
princesa
It is borrowed from French princesse, the feminine of prince (“prince”) made with the suffix -esse. Corominas notes that Nebrija already spelt it with a single ⟨s⟩, as Catalan and Portuguese still…
rol
1. The word for a part or function is borrowed from English role (“part played by an actor”), which is from French rôle. The Puerto Rican Tesoro also lists it as an adapted anglicism, while the DTME…
sargento
It continues inherited from Old Spanish sargente, borrowed from Old French sergent (“servant; sergeant”). The DCECH, which first records the military form about 1577, takes it from sergeant…
talismán
It is borrowed from French talisman, a learned word that came into Spanish from the European languages, not an old Arabism. The ultimate source is Ancient Greek τέλεσμα (télesma, “payment; religious…
tren
It is borrowed from French train, a noun the French formed from the verb traîner (“to drag, pull”). Corominas dates the borrowing to the middle of the 17th century, on the evidence of Autoridades…
tulipán
It is borrowed from French tulipan, the old French form of the flower's name, from Turkish tülbent (“turban”), which comes from Persian دلبند (dolband, “turban”). The Turkish word was given to the…