Romanian words from French
137 Romanian words with French in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 2).
general
It is borrowed from French général, with Latin generālis (“of a kind; general”) as a second model for the adjective, as DEX and MDA2 give it. Ciorănescu derives the adjective from the French word…
grup
It is borrowed from French groupe. French borrowed the noun in 1668 from Italian gruppo, an art term for a set of figures forming a whole, which first meant “knot, bundle” and goes back to a…
gută
The word for gout is borrowed from French goutte (“drop, gout”), a modern medical loan. The French word continues Latin gutta (“drop”). Scriban explains the name of the disease by the old belief…
hotel
It is borrowed from French hôtel, as every dictionary says. The French word is inherited, through Old French ostel, from Late Latin hospitāle (“guest house”), the noun use of hospitālis (“of a guest…
idee
It is borrowed from French idée and directly borrowed from Latin idea; DEX, MDA2 and the neologism dictionaries give both sources, while Ciorănescu names only the French word. Tiktin gives the Greek…
idiot
It is borrowed from French idiot. Tiktin and the neologism dictionaries also name the Latin and Greek forms beside the French one. The French word was taken from Latin idiōta at the end of the 12th…
imediat
It is borrowed from French immédiat, with Latin immediātus (“without anything between”) as a second source, a 19th-century neologism. Tiktin names only the French adjective and its adverb…
important
It is a 19th-century neologism, borrowed from French important (“important”), as DEX, MDA2 and MDN give it; the DA calls it a new word modelled on French. Tiktin derives it instead from Italian…
informație
It is borrowed from French information and Latin īnfōrmātiō, one of the multiple etymologies of Romanian neologisms. Tiktin gives the New Latin word alone, and Negulici the Latin word. The Latin…
interesant
It is borrowed from French intéressant. The DA calls it a neologism after French; Tiktin and the DN also compare Italian interessante.
jurat
The adjective is the past participle from Romanian jura (“to swear”). The verb is inherited from iūrō. The noun is listed by Ciorănescu among the derivatives of jura. DA takes the older noun, the…
lac
1. The word for “lake” is inherited from Latin lacus (“lake, pond”). It survives in all four branches: Aromanian lac, Megleno-Romanian lac and Istro-Romanian lǫc. Its Romance cognates include…
listă
It is borrowed from French liste, with Italian lista as a second model; the DEX and the Wiktionary name French alone, while MDA2 and the DLR give both. The DA and Tiktin also compare German Liste…
lunatic
It is borrowed from Latin lūnāticus (“moonstruck, epileptic”), and in its modern senses also borrowed from French lunatique. The neologism dictionaries add Italian lunatico. Tiktin thinks the word…
magazin
It is borrowed from French magasin. Tiktin also names Italian magazzino, and the DN compares it. The French word, first recorded in 1389 in the spelling ⟨maguesin⟩, came either through the Italian…
masă
1. The word for “mass” is borrowed from French masse, a neologism of the early 19th century. The DLR, MDA2 and Tiktin also name German Masse as a source; DEX names only the French word. The…
mașină
It is borrowed from French machine, with German Maschine as a second model, as DEX, MDA2 and Marcu's dictionary of neologisms give it. Ciorănescu takes it from French and, earlier, in the 18th…
mersi
It is borrowed from French merci (“thank you”), a Frenchism of the 19th century. The French word comes from Latin mercēs (“wages, reward”), which in Late Latin also came to mean “favour, grace”…
mesaj
It is borrowed from French message. Ciorănescu and MDA2 add borrowed from Italian messaggio, the model of the variant mesagiu. The French word was formed in the 11th century with the suffix -age on…
milion
In the modern language it is borrowed from French million. Ciorănescu adds that it came partly through Polish milion in the 17th century. For the older writers the DLR names several sources: Modern…
motiv
It is a neologism with several models: borrowed from French motif, with Italian motivo and German Motiv as further models. Tiktin names only the Italian word, while Marcu and Maneca also name the…
navă
It is borrowed from French nave, a 19th-century loan with two further models, Latin nāvis (“ship”) and Italian nave, as MDA2, the DLR and DEX give it. The dictionaries weigh the sources differently…
normal
It is borrowed from French normal, Latin normālis and Italian normale, the sources DEX and Marcu's MDN name. Marcu & Maneca's DN compares the Latin, French and Italian adjectives. MDA2 and the DLR…
noutate
According to DEX, DLR and MDA2, which give it several sources at once, it is borrowed from Latin novitās (“newness, novelty”), borrowed from French nouvelle (“news”) and, in DLR and MDA2, borrowed…
observa
It is borrowed from French observer, and DLR, MDA2, DEX, DN and MDN add a direct borrowed from Latin observō; DER and Wiktionary give French with its Latin source. Tiktin calls it New Latin first…
obține
It is borrowed from French obtenir, also borrowed from Latin obtineō, with the conjugation of the native verb ține. MDA2 and Tiktin name the French and the Latin verb, MDN and the DLR put the French…
pană
1. The word for the feather is inherited from Latin pinna (“feather, wing”). Scriban and Wiktionary also name the variant penna, and Nocentini notes that the two Latin forms merged in Romance. The…
pat
1. The word for the bed is borrowed from Modern Greek πάτος (pátos, “beaten path”) according to DEX, MDA2 and the DLR. Tiktin also calls this Greek source probable, noting that the later Greek word…
permite
It is borrowed from French permettre, a learned loan of the late 18th and 19th centuries; DEX, MDA2 and Wiktionary name Latin permittō (“to let go, allow”) as a second source. The dictionaries weigh…
plan
It is borrowed from French plan, according to Ciorănescu and Wiktionary. DEX names French and Latin, and DLR and MDA2 give French, Latin plānus (“flat, level”) and German Plan together, the multiple…
planetă
The dictionaries name several sources: DEX 2009 and the neologism dictionaries say it is borrowed from French planète and Latin planēta; MDA2 adds German Planet, and Marcu and Maneca put the Latin…
por
1. The word for the pore is borrowed from French pore, also directly Latin porus (“passage, channel in the body”), as DEX, DN and MDN give it, a neologism with several sources. MDA2 adds Modern…
posibil
It is borrowed from French possible, and at the same time borrowed from Latin possibilis, the two sources DEX, MDA2, the DLR, MDN and DILF give. Marcu and Maneca put Latin first and compare French…
poză
It is borrowed from French pose. Tiktin also names Italian posa. The French noun is a back-formation from French poser (“to place, put down”). The verb is the regular outcome of Vulgar Latin pausare…
președinte
It is borrowed from French président and the Latin praesidēns, the present participle of praesideō (“to sit in front, preside”), refashioned in Romanian after ședea (“to sit”). Ciorănescu puts the…
prezenta
It is borrowed from French présenter: DLR, MDA2 and Wiktionary give French alone. DEX, DN, MDN and DILF add borrowed from Latin praesentō (“to show, present”), and Tiktin names Italian presentare as…
primă
The noun for a bonus or premium is borrowed from French prime. French took this noun from English premium, from Latin praemium (“reward”). DN compares the Latin word directly.
primar
The old adjective is inherited from Latin prīmārius (“one of the first; principal”). Candrea and Densusianu explain the vowel /i/ of the first syllable, where the old ⟨premar⟩ shows the regular /e/…
probabil
It is borrowed from Latin probābilis (“worthy of approval; credible”), partly borrowed from French probable, with Italian probabile as a further model: MDA2 and the DLR give all three, DEX the…
problemă
It is borrowed from French problème, with Latin problēma as a second source; Tiktin and MDA2 also name German Problem. The neologism dictionaries give French, Latin and Greek, an example of the…
program
It is borrowed from French programme, the source DEX, NODEX and Wiktionary give. MDA2 and the DLR name several models at once, in the manner of Romanian neologisms: besides French they list German…
proteja
It is borrowed from French protéger, with borrowed from Latin prōtegō (“to cover in front, shelter”) named beside it by most dictionaries. MDA2, the DLR and Tiktin also name Italian proteggere. The…
public
It is borrowed from French public, and MDA2, DLR, MDN and NODEX add a direct borrowed from Latin publicus (“of the people, public”). Wiktionary gives French, itself from Latin, and DER names only…
pur
1. The word for the sand leek is inherited from Latin porrum (“leek”), with an unexpected /u/: Tiktin notes that this vowel is found nowhere else. DEX gives the Latin word only with a “compare”. The…
rapid
It is borrowed from French rapide, together with borrowed from Latin rapidus (“tearing along, swift”), the double source the dictionaries give. Tiktin takes it from Latin by way of the modern…
renunța
It is borrowed from French renoncer, with Latin renūntiō (“to announce back; to give up”) as a second model, a neologism of the 19th century with two models. Tiktin takes it after French alone. The…
reveni
1. The verb for becoming damp is formed from Romanian reavăn (“moist (of soil)”) + -i according to Tiktin, the DLR, DEX 2009, MDA2 and Wiktionary. The adjective reavăn is borrowed from Bulgarian…
rută
It is borrowed from French route (“road, way”), a neologism. The DLR, NODEX and MDA2 add a second source, borrowed from German Rutte. The French word continues Vulgar Latin *rupta, the noun use of a…
sală
It is borrowed from French salle (“room, hall”), the source DEX and Wiktionary give. MDA2 and NODEX name several models at once, Modern Greek, French, German Saal and Italian sala, a case of…
salut
It is borrowed from French salut (“greeting”), the source MDA2, the DLR, NODEX and Wiktionary give. DEX, DILF and MDN name several sources together, French, Latin and Italian saluto, a case of the…
șansă
It is borrowed from French chance, the only source the dictionaries name. The French word, first recorded about 1175, comes from Old French cheance (“accident, chance, luck”), which continues Vulgar…
secret
It is borrowed from French secret, and at the same time borrowed from Latin sēcrētus, the two sources DEX, MDA2, the DLR, MDN and DILF give. Marcu and Maneca name the Latin noun sēcrētum and compare…
secundă
It is borrowed from French seconde, as DEX and Wiktionary give it, with German Sekunde and Latin secunda named beside it by MDA2, Tiktin and the neologism dictionaries. The unit is named from the…
șef
It is borrowed from French chef (“chief, boss”), as DER, MDA2, DEX, Tiktin and the neologism dictionaries agree. The French word goes back to Latin caput (“head”). Romanian also kept the Latin word…
sentiment
It is borrowed from French sentiment, and DLR, MDA2 and NODEX add a direct borrowed from Medieval Latin sentimentum, while DEX, MDN and DILF give only French. Tiktin, Scriban and DN name Italian…
serios
It is borrowed from French sérieux, with Italian serioso beside it, as Ciorănescu gives it. MDA2 and Marcu add Latin seriosus, and Marcu & Maneca compare the Medieval Latin word. Like many…
serviciu
It is borrowed from French service (“service”), and also borrowed from Latin servitium (“slavery, service”). MDA2, DEX, DLRM and Wiktionary name both sources, and Tiktin names French as the model…
sex
It is borrowed from French sexe, at the same time borrowed from Latin sexus, one of the learned words of the 19th century. DEX, MDA2, the DLR and Tiktin give both sources, while Scriban and…
simplu
It is borrowed from French simple, first recorded in 1814. The French word is from Latin simplex (“made of one element; plain, artless”), literally “folded once”, a compound of a root of unity and…
sincer
It is borrowed from French sincère and Latin sincērus (“pure, unmixed”), one of the multiple etymologies of Romanian neologisms. The DLR and MDA2 give French and Italian sincero instead, and Tiktin…