loanword
/ˈloʊnˌwɝd/
"loanword" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“loanword” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A word directly taken into one language from another one.
Corpus desk
Index EN-loanword · loanword · English
loanword · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | loanword |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈloʊnˌwɝd/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “loanword” in English
Rare enough to double-check
loanword is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈloʊnˌwɝd/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A word directly taken into one language from another one.".
No misspelling variants are generated for loanword in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: A calque of German Lehnwort, equivalent to loan + word. Compare West Frisian lienwurd, Dutch leenwoord, Danish låneord, Swedish lånord, Icelandic lánsorð. The correct English form is loanword, spelled L-O-A-N-W-O-R-D.
Definition
- 1A word directly taken into one language from another one.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how loanword appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"Calque" is a loanword with French origins, and "loanword" is a calque with German origins.
New words, and particularly loanwords, are simplified, and hence naturalized in American much more quickly than in English. Employé has long since become employee in our newspapers, and asphalte has lost its final e, and manœuvre has become maneuver, and pyjamas has become pajamas.
Etymology
A calque of German Lehnwort, equivalent to loan + word. Compare West Frisian lienwurd, Dutch leenwoord, Danish låneord, Swedish lånord, Icelandic lánsorð.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.