loanword
/ˈloʊnˌwɝd/noun
loanword is spelled L-O-A-N-W-O-R-D: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 24 million words in written English, the 148,541st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, loanword means “A word directly taken into one language from another one” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of loanword is loanwords.
How many letters and syllables are in loanword?
| Letters | 8: L-O-A-N-W-O-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 24 million words; the 148,541st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is loanword?
Loanword appears about once in every 24 million words in written English, the 148,541st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce loanword?
- US /ˈloʊnˌwɝd/
- UK /ˈləʊnˌwɜː(ɹ)d/
Loanword has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-loanword.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-PerfectSoundWhatever-loan_word.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of loanword
- loanwords plural
- loan word
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does loanword mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A word directly taken into one language from another one.
"Calque" is a loanword with French origins, and "loanword" is a calque with German origins.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate loanword?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of loanword: LW.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Loanword in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense word taken from another language:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | emprunt |
| German | Lehnwort, Fremdwort |
| Portuguese | estrangeirismo, empréstimo |
| Spanish | préstamo lingüístico |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does loanword come from?
A calque of German Lehnwort, equivalent to loan + word. Compare West Frisian lienwurd, Dutch leenwoord, Danish låneord, Swedish lånord, Icelandic lánsorð.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).