Many people believe the English language is A World of Words. How many words are there in the English language? No one really knows for sure! But, we may estimate that there are probably more than 600,000 words! It is a fact that English contains more words than any other language. Where did all these words come from? About 80% of all words in present-day English are borrowed from other languages. “Boulevard” and “garage“, for example, came from French while “violin” and “balcony” came from Italian. The word “bungalow” came from Hindi, “mattress” from Arabic, “canyon” and “mustang” from Spanish, “moccasin” and “skunk” from North American Indian languages, and “kayak” from Eskimo.
Many of these adopted words have fascinating stories to tell! A good example is the word “sabotage“. In the 1800s workers in factories were often forced to work very long hours. To get a rest, French workers would occasionally throw their “sabots“, or wooden shoes, into the machinery to stop the machines and production. The result was “sabotage” that meant “to intentionally destroy or damage something”.
You may learn more about how words came into English using a dictionary of word origins. Some words that you may find interesting to research are: “bonfire, curfew, volcano, panic, sandwich, and canary“.
Please send us a message using our CONTACT page link if you have a question.
不要再看了! 在线英语导师是提供通用英语、商务英语和英语培训的专家! 所有这些都集中在一个地方!!! 发现你的潜力——我们让你变得更好! 学习更好变得更好! 我们专注于: 学生(高中和大学), 成人学习者, 商业/企业专业人士和 测试申请人 仅举几例 即时反馈:更正、策略和提示 我们让学习和提高您的英语变得容易理解! 您需要更多信息来与私人英语导师合作吗? 联系我们。…
**********************10 tips from the experts!********************* Tip 1: Don't memorise answers Don't memorise answers, especially in…
CELPIP is an English test. CELPIP (Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program) is Canada's leading…
Have you ever been in a situation when you needed a quick reference to some…
CELBAN is The Canadian English Language Benchmark Assessment for Nurses. It is a performance-based test…
A piece of cake Wow! Don't be wonky when learning English! It is very important…
This website uses cookies.