French words from English
9 French words with English in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
antilope
In its modern sense it is borrowed from English antelope (1607 in this sense), itself borrowed from Old French antelop, the name of a fabulous animal, from Medieval Latin anthalopus (11th century)…
croquet
1. It is formed from croquer (“to crunch”) with the suffix “-et”. 2. It is borrowed from English croquet (about 1855), which comes either from a Norman-Picard form of crochet (“hook”) (see croc), as…
flibustier
It is borrowed from English flibutor (late 16th century), also “frebetter”, modern freebooter, taken over in the Antilles, itself from Dutch vrijbuiter (“plunderer”), literally “one who takes booty…
mail
1. The mallet is inherited from Old French mail, inherited from Latin malleus (“hammer, mallet”), a technical word that Rey compares with Old Church Slavonic млатъ (mlatŭ, “hammer”) and Old Norse…
missile
In its modern sense it is borrowed from English missile (1945), itself from Latin missile (“missile weapon”), the neuter of missilis (“that can be thrown”), from mittō (“to send, throw”). Rey notes…
porter
1. “To carry” is inherited from Old French porter, inherited from Latin portō (“to carry, convey; to bring into port”), related to Latin porta (“gate”) and Latin portus (“harbour”) (see porte and…
romantique
In its first senses it is borrowed from English romantic (recorded from 1650–1654), which describes what belongs to the romance and appeals to the imagination; the English word was formed on romant…
rosbif
It is borrowed from English roast beef (also “roastbeef”), adapted, formed in 1635 from roast (“roasted”), from Old French “rostir” (see rôtir), and beef, from Old French “boef” through Anglo-Norman…
véranda
It is borrowed from English veranda, also “verandah” (from 1711), a word brought back from India, where several languages, such as Hindi and Bengali, had taken it from Portuguese varanda (“balcony…