The prevalence of words of French origin that have been borrowed into English is comparable to that of borrowings from Latin. Estimates vary, but the general belief is that , , or possibly as many as of the English dictionary have words of French origin. This suggests that up to 80,000 words should appear in this list. The list, however, only includes words directly borrowed from French, so it includes both joy and joyous but does not include derivatives with English suffixes such as joyful, joyfulness, partisanship, and parenthood.
Estimates suggest that at least a third of English vocabulary is of French origin, with some specialists, like scholars, indicating that the proportion may be two-thirds in some registers. After the Norman Conquest led by William the Conqueror in 1066, the ruling elite introduced their Old French lexicon into England, where it gradually blended with Old English, which the Germanic language had already shaped. Of the 15,000 words in William Shakespeare's works, are of French origin.
Furthermore, the list excludes compound words in which only one of the elements is from French, e.g. ice cream, sunray, jellyfish, killjoy, lifeguard, and passageway, and English-made combinations of words of French origin, e.g. grapefruit (grape + fruit), layperson (lay + person), magpie, marketplace, petticoat, and straitjacket. Also excluded are words that come from French but were introduced into English via another language, e.g. commodore, domineer, filibuster, ketone, loggia, lotto, mariachi, monsignor, oboe, paella, panzer, picayune, ranch, vendue, and veneer.
English words of French origin should be distinguished from French words and expressions in English.
Although French is mostly derived from Latin, important other word sources are Gaulish and some Germanic languages, especially Old Frankish.
Latin accounts for about 60% of English vocabulary either directly or via a Romance language. As both English and French have borrowed many words from Latin, determining whether a given Latin word entered English via French or directly from Latin might in some cases be difficult.
Historical context
Most of the French vocabulary now appearing in English was borrowed in the centuries following the Norman Conquest of 1066, when England came under the rule of Norman-speaking peoples. After William the Conqueror had invaded England, subsequent rulers invaded other parts of the British Isles, distributing lands and property to Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French soldiers. As a result, Old French became the language of high culture and government. With time, it evolved into Anglo-Norman French, a language widely used by the nobility and for legal affairs (See Law French).
The use of French and Norman in the kingdom was "extremely important" from William the Conqueror's coronation in 1066 until 1260.
Old English, which the vast majority of English people continued to speak, started to change due to the increasing number of borrowings from French, the language of the ruling elite. Over time this led to pairs of words, many of which belong in different language registers: artisan/craftsman, autumn/fall, beverage/drink, cemetery/graveyard, commence/start, commerce/trade, continue/carry on, cry/weep, dame/lady, depart/leave, disengage/withdraw, encounter/meet, exchange/swap, fatigue/tire, fume/smoke, garment/clothes, maintain/uphold, mansion/house, marry/wed, menace/threat, odor/smell, pain/ache, people/folk, plume/feather, present/gift, purchase/buy, revenue/income, rob/steal, serpent/snake, sorcerer/wizard, sorceress/witch, table/board, timid/shy, vend/sell, sir, sire/lord. Walter Scott popularized the idea of the Anglo-Norman nobility eating the meats of the animals that Anglo-Saxon peasants had raised: beef/cow, mutton/sheep, veal/calf and pork/pig. In each case the word of French origin was only used in the kitchen. In fact this occurred centuries after the Norman conquest (a modern example being escargot/snail) and might owe more to the enduring prestige of French cuisine than to a hypothetical specialization of tasks.
Words of French origin often refer to more abstract or generalized concepts than their Old English equivalents (e.g. liberty/freedom, justice/fairness, source/spring, vision/sight, sentiment/feeling); they are therefore less frequently used in everyday language. However, this is not true for all English words of French origin. Consider, for example, some of the most common words in English: able, car, chair, city, country, different, fact, fine, fruit, group, journey, juice, just, large, move, part, people, person, place, point, problem, public, push, real, remain, stay, table, travel, use, very, and wait.
After Henry Plantagenet ascended the throne of England, other French dialects gained influence at the expense of Anglo-Norman, notably the Angevin dialect from whence the House of Plantagenet came, and possibly Poitevin, the tongue of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
The motto of the British monarchy was proclaimed in French as "". The aristocracy ruled England using French, which was considered "the language of an elite", until 1260. After 1260, English merchants and jurists began to speak French. Between 1260 and 1400, everyday and popular language adopted words borrowed from French.
With the English claim to the throne of France, the influence of courtly French of Paris increased. French cultural influence remained strong in the following centuries. From the Renaissance onwards, most borrowings were from Parisian French, which had become the de facto standard language of France.
Le Devoirs wrote, "Many English words were borrowed from Old French, but also from Norman". noted, "More than a third of English vocabulary is indeed of French origin." Modern-day older Norman-speaking people in Normandy recognise English words as Norman.
Linguist said, "All of the sustained vocabulary of English or almost, belongs to the French language", adding, "International English comes from French." Reflecting on the globalised dimension of English, he said that "English was able to dethrone French by first plundering French".
Notable fields of French influence
Feudalism
Norman rule of England had a lasting impact on British society. Words from Anglo-Norman or Old French include terms related to chivalry (homage, liege, peasant, seigniorage, suzerain, vassal, villain) and other institutions (bailiff, chancellor, council, government, mayor, minister, parliament), the organisation of religion (abbey, clergy, cloister, diocese, friar, mass, parish, prayer, preach, priest, sacristy, vestment, vestry, vicar), the nobility (baron, count, dame, duke, marquis, prince, sir), and the art of war (armour, baldric, dungeon, hauberk, mail, portcullis, rampart, surcoat). Many of these words related to the feudal system or medieval warfare have a Germanic origin (mainly through Old Frankish) (see also French words of Germanic origin).
The Norman origin of the British monarchy is visible in expressions like Prince Regent, heir apparent, Princess Royal in which the adjective goes after the noun, as in French.
All British noble vocabulary such as "baron, count, monarch, monarchy, noble, prince, regent, royal, sire, sovereign, throne, vassal" is borrowed from French.
Heraldry
The vocabulary of heraldry has been heavily influenced by French (blazon, or, argent, sable, gules, passant), for more details see tinctures, attitudes, and charges of heraldry.
Sometimes used in heraldry, some mythological beasts (cockatrice, dragon, griffin, hippogriff, phoenix, wyvern) and exotic animals (lion, leopard, antelope, gazelle, giraffe, camel, zebu, elephant, baboon, macaque, mouflon, dolphin, ocelot, ostrich, toucan, chameleon) draw their name from French. This is also true for some animals native to Europe (via Anglo-Norman: buzzard, coney, cormorant, eagle, egret, falcon, ferret, heron, leveret, lizard, marten, plover, rabbit, salmon, squirrel, viper).
Military
The vocabulary of warfare and the military includes many words and expressions of French origin (accoutrements, aide-de-camp, army, artillery, battalion, bivouac, boyau, brigade, camouflage, carabineer, cavalry, cordon sanitaire, corps, corvette, dragoon, espionage, esprit de corps, état major, fusilier, grenadier, guard, hors-de-combat, infantry, latrine, legionnaire, logistics, matériel, marine, morale, musketeer, officer, pistol, platoon, reconnaissance/reconnoitre, regiment, rendezvous, siege, soldier, sortie, squad, squadron, surrender, surveillance, terrain, troop, volley). This includes military ranks: admiral, captain, colonel, corporal, general, lieutenant, sergeant. Many fencing terms are also from French.
Politics and economics
The political/economic lexicon includes many words of French origin such as money, treasury, exchequer, commerce, finance, tax, liberalism, capitalism, materialism, nationalism, plebiscite, coup d'état, regime, sovereignty, state, administration, federal, bureaucracy, constitution, jurisdiction, district.
Several terms for trades and professions are from Anglo-Norman French: barber, butcher, carpenter, draper, grocer, mariner, mason, mercer, merchant, scrivener, surgeon and tailor.
Law
The judicial lexicon has been heavily influenced by French (justice, judge, jury, attorney, court, case) and terms related to law enforcement (arraign, arrest, detention, constable, marshal, officer, police, prison, jail).
Diplomacy
attaché, chargé d'affaires, envoy, embassy, chancery, diplomacy, démarche, communiqué, aide-mémoire, détente, entente, rapprochement, accord, treaty, alliance, passport, protocol.
Arts
art, music, dance, theatre, author, stage, paint, canvas, perform, harmony, melody, rhythm, trumpet, note, director, gallery, portrait, brush, pallet, montage, surrealism, impressionism, fauvism, cubism, symbolism, art nouveau, gouache, aquarelle, collage, render, frieze, grisaille.
Architecture
aisle, arcade, arch, vault, voussoir, belfry, arc-boutant, buttress, bay, lintel, estrade, facade, balustrade, terrace, lunette, niche, pavilion, pilaster, porte cochère.
Aviation and automobiles
France played a pioneering role in the fields of aviation (nacelle, empennage, fuselage, fenestron, aileron, altimeter, canard, decalage, monocoque, turbine) and automobile engineering or design (chassis, piston, arbor, grille, tonneau, berline, sedan, limousine, cabriolet, coupé, convertible).
Cuisine
baba au rhum, beef, beef bourguignon, boudin, caramel, casserole, cassoulet, chowder, clafoutis, confit, consommé, cream, croissant, custard, filet mignon, fillet, foie gras, flognarde, fondant, fondue, gateau, gratin, madeleine, marmalade, mayonnaise, meringue, mille-feuille, mustard, mutton, navarin, pâté, pastry, petit four, pork, porridge, potage, pudding, puree, ragout, ratatouille, roux, salad, sauce, sausage, soufflé, soup, stew, terrine, trifle, veal, venison, vol-au-vent.
Colours, the natural world and measurements
Other borrowings include the names of colours (beige, blue, carmine, cerise, ecru, gridelin, lilac, maroon, mauve, orange, perse, russet, scarlet, turquoise, vermilion and violet), the natural world (animal, insect, mineral, plant, herb, flower, fruit, vegetable, mushroom), vegetables and fruits (apricot, aubergine, cabbage, carrot, cherry, chestnut, citron, clementine, courgette, cucumber, currant, grape, haricot, lemon, lentil, mandarin, melon, onion, orange, parsley, peach, pumpkin, quince, spinach), measurements (metre, hectare, litre, gram, ounce, hour, minute, second, decade, dozen, million), and months of the year (January, March, May, July, November, December).
Terms coined by French people