Usina de Letras

Common foreign words	Source language	Entomology / Origin / Meaning	Trivia / Comments / Usage
addenda	Latin	A list of additions.
ad lib	Latin	Improvised.	One of the most common foreign words used in English to describe actors and politicians who go off-piste.
ad hoc	Latin	For a particular purpose.
ad infinitum	Latin	To infinity.
à la carte	French 🇫🇷	From the menu.
ad nauseam	Latin	To the point of nausea, to a sickening degree.	Trevor talked ad nauseam about his career.
addenda	Latin	A list of additions.
aficionado	Spanish 🇪🇸	An ardent fan.
agent provocateur	French 🇫🇷	Agent who incites others to illegal action.	Agent Provocateur is also a luxury lingerie brand name.
alcohol	Arabic	Originally “al-kuḥl” ancient Egyptian eyeliner, later any fine powder or distilled spirit or essence.	Alcoholic beverages include beers, wines and spirits.
alfresco	Italian 🇮🇹	Fresh air, outdoors.
alma mater	Latin	Former school (Latin “bountiful mother”).	My alma mater is the university of life, which does not award degrees.
alter ego	Latin	Second self.
angst	German 🇩🇪	Dread, anxiety.
ars gratia artis	Latin	Art for art’s sake.	MGM’s Leo the lion’s head is inside a garland of film with the motto “Ars Gratia Artis“.
au fait	French 🇫🇷	Familiar with something (French “to the point”).
au naturel	French 🇫🇷	Natural state, naked.
avant-garde	French 🇫🇷	Unorthodox, experimental (French “front guard”).
avatar	Hindi	Icon or representation of a person online.	You can often change your avatar on websites and in computer games.
baksheesh	Persian	Tip (Persian “gift”).
ballet	French 🇫🇷	Form of dance. From earlier latin ballare “to dance”.	French is the language of ballet, e.g. tutu and ballerina.
bete noire	French 🇫🇷	Personal annoyance, bugbear (French “black beast”).
blitzkrieg	German 🇩🇪	Sudden overwhelming attack (German “lightning war”).
bon appétit	French 🇫🇷	Enjoy your meal (French “good appetite).	One of the most common foreign words in English, probably because we don’t have an English equivalent.
bon vivant	French 🇫🇷	Lover of good life.
bon voyage	French 🇫🇷	Have a nice trip.	We wished Natasha bon voyage as she left to go traveling.
bona fide	Latin	In good faith, genuine.	John’s doctor was a bona fide expert in dementia.
bravura	Italian 🇮🇹	Performed with energy and skill.
cafe	French 🇫🇷	From coffee in many languages, one of the most common foreign words.	Cafés usually serve coffee.
carpe diem	Latin	Seize the day.	Made famous by Robin Williams in the movie Dead Poets Society.
carpe noctem	Latin	Seize the night (this is not really in very common usage, but we loved the concept of seizing the night instead of the day!).
carte blanche	French 🇫🇷	Complete freedom, unlimited authority (French “white card”).	Ron was given carte blanche to choose a new truck.
sus belli	Latin	Pretext or reason that justifies or allegedly justifies an attack of war.
caveat emptor	Latin	Let the buyer beware.	Item sold as seen, caveat emptor.
chow	Chinese 🇨🇳	Food, “chow down” means to eat.	Many Chinese words used in English relate to food.
chutzpah	Yiddish	Gall, audacity.
cojones	Spanish 🇪🇸	Testicles, balls, guts.
cordon bleu	French 🇫🇷	Food cooked to high standard (French “blue ribbon”).
corpus delecti	Latin	The evidence required to prove a crime has been committed.
coup de grace	French 🇫🇷	A blow of mercy.
cul-de-sac	French 🇫🇷	Dead end (French “bottom of the sack”).
de facto	French 🇫🇷	Actual.
de rigueur	French 🇫🇷	Obligatory.
déjà vu	French 🇫🇷	Sense of having already experienced something (French “already seen”).	Déjà vu is one of the most common foreign expressions in English of French origin.
derrière	French 🇫🇷	Behind, bum, bottom, buttocks.
deus ex machine	Latin	God of the machine.
doppelgänger	German 🇩🇪	Ghostly counterpart of a living person (German “double-goer”).
double entendre	French 🇫🇷	Double meaning.
droit du seigneur	French 🇫🇷	Excessive demands on subordinate. Literally “the lord’s right” to take the virginity of a new bride.
élan	French 🇫🇷	Flair.
enfant terrible	French 🇫🇷	A bad child.
en masse	French 🇫🇷	In a large group.	The crowd voted with their feet and left en masse.
entrepreneur	French 🇫🇷	Businessman. From 19th century “entreprendre”, a director of a musical institution.	Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey are famous entrepreneurs.
ersatz	German 🇩🇪	A substitute.
eureka	Greek 🇬🇷	Joyous moment of discovery.	Ancient Greek scholar Archimedes reportedly exclaimed “Eureka!” On getting into a bath Archimedes realised his body displaced the same volume of water causing he water level to rise.
fait accompli	French 🇫🇷	An established fact.	Losing the vote for president was a fait accompli.
fata morgana	Italian 🇮🇹	A striking mirage.
fatwa	Arabic	A legal opinion expressed by Islamic leader.
faux pas	French 🇫🇷	Breach of social etiquette, social blunder (French “false step”) or mistake.	Wearing a long white dress as a wedding guest was a faux pas.
femme fatale	French 🇫🇷	Highly attractive woman who means trouble.
fiasco	Italian 🇮🇹	Disaster.
force de frappe	French 🇫🇷	France’s nuclear deterrent (French “superiour force”).
gauntlet / gantlet	Swedish 🇸🇪	Swedish (gatlopp “lane course running”). The pronunciation in English was corrupted to “gauntlet” (French gantelet “armored glove”).	Running the gauntlet (UK) or gantlet (US) was a form of punishment where the victim was forced to run between two rows of torturers. “Throw down the gauntlet” is to issue a challenge and “take up the gauntlet” accepts the challenge.
gemütlich	German 🇩🇪	Cosy.
gestalt	German 🇩🇪	Form, shape.
gesundheit	German 🇩🇪	Health, bless you.
glasnost	Russian 🇷🇺	Openness (Russian “openness, publicity”).	When the Soviet Union crumbled (1986-1991), glasnost was one of most common foreign words used in English language.
glitch	Yiddish	A minor fault, bug, gremlin etc. (Yiddish “gletshn” to slide or skid) or (German “glitschen” to slip).	Neo experienced déjà vu as “a glitch in the matrix” when he saw the same black cat walk past a door twice.
grand mal	French 🇫🇷	Epilepsy attack (French “large illness”).
gringo	Spanish 🇪🇸	Foreigner (mainly Mexican).
gung-ho	Chinese 🇨🇳	Enthusiasm, zealous (Chinese “work together”)	Adopted as a battle cry by some American military units.
guru	Hindi	Spiritual leader.
habeas corpus	Latin	(Latin “You should have the body”) protection against unlawful imprisonment.
halal	Arabic	Meat slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law (Arabic “lawful”).
hoi polloi	Greek 🇬🇷	Rabble, plebs, the masses	Mixing with the hoi polloi is seen as mixing with people below your social status, the opposite of “hobnobbing” with people above your social status.
in flagrante delicto	Latin	Caught in the act (Latin “with the crime still blazing”).
in loco parentis	Latin	A guardian, in place of a parent.
in vino veritas	Latin	Truth is in wine.
ipso facto	Latin	By the fact itself. “A teacher, ipso facto, is in charge of his or her class.”	A chef, ipso facto, is in charge of a kitchen.
joie de vivre	French 🇫🇷	Joy of life.
kamikaze	Japanese 🇯🇵	From Japanese “divine wind”, referring to a typhoon which dispersed a Mongol invasion fleet in 1281.	Towards the end of WWII Japanese kamikaze pilots launched suicide attacks on enemy ships. It’s one of only a few common foreign words of Japanese origin used in English.
karaoke	Japanese 🇯🇵	From Japanese “empty orchestra”. today meaning singing to a backing track in Karaoke bars and pubs.	Karaoke is one of the most common foreign words, of Japanese origin, used in English.
ketchup / catchup	Chinese 🇨🇳	Originally a pickled fish sauce with spices and brine. Spelling adapted from Amoy dialect kôe-chiap / kê-chiap (鮭汁)	Ketchup reached the west via Malaysia and Singapore to England where ketchup recipes were mushroom based, then later tomato and spread to the USA via settlers.
kitsch	German 🇩🇪	Rubbish, bad taste.	Ironically kitsch can be so bad it’s good. Kitsch is in the eye of the beholder.
la dolce vita	Italian 🇮🇹	The good life.	Title of several films, songs and a perfume by Christian Dior, one of the best known and used foreign phrases used in English.
laissez faire	French 🇫🇷	Policy of non interference.
lingua franca	Italian 🇮🇹	Common language.
macho	Spanish 🇪🇸	Arrogant masculine man (Spanish/Portuguese machismo “manly”).	Randy Savage and the Village People spring to mind.
mea culpa	Latin	My fault.
modus operandi	Latin	Method of procedure, method of operating (commonly abbreviated to M.O.).	The suspect followed the same M.O.
moped	Swedish 🇸🇪	(Swedish motor och pedaler “pedal cycle with engine and wheels” )	One of only a handful of common foreign words from Swedish.
noblesse oblige	French 🇫🇷	Nobility obliges.
nom de plume	French 🇫🇷	Pen name.	Commonly used by writers to preserve their anonymity.
non sequitur	Latin	Something that doesn’t follow on logically.
objet d’art	French 🇫🇷	Literally “art object” in French.	An objet d’art is used in English to describe a small three-dimensional work with some artistic value.
off-piste	French 🇫🇷	Skiing in areas unprepared for skiing. Off the beaten track.	One of the common foreign words that make English fun. Used to describe actors and politicians who do not follow to their scripts or anything unexpected.
pandemic	Greek 🇬🇷	From Greek “pandemos” meaning “all the people”.	Sadly Covid-19 made ADDucation’s list of the worst global pandemics in history during 2020. Pandemic became one of the most common foreign words worldwide.
persona non grata	Latin	Unwelcome or unacceptable person.	Sally was a persona non grata in our club because she wouldn’t follow the rules.
piece de résistance	French 🇫🇷	Special food dish or outstanding item or event.
poltergeist	German 🇩🇪	A ghost that moves objects around or causes loud noises (German “noisy ghost”).
prima donna	Latin	A temperamental and conceited person.	Sophie found it hard to make friends because she was considered to a prima donna.
prima facie	Latin	At first view.
pro bono	Latin	Donated or done without charge.	The lawyer took the case on a pro bono basis.
pro forma	Latin	Done for the sake of form.
pro rata	Latin	Proportionally according to a factor.
pro tempore	Latin	For the time being.
punch	Hindi	Originally “paantsch” an alcoholic drink made of five ingredients; sugar, lemon, alcohol, water, spices or tea.	Punch is a popular party drink served from a large punch bowl.
pundit	Hindi	An expert, critic or commentator on a specific subject.	Punditry, by pundits, analyze sports, express opinions in the media, critique theater, food etc.
Que sera, sera	Spanish 🇪🇸 Italian 🇮🇹	Whatever will be, will be.	Spanish-like but also from Italian, both in 16th century. Made popular by Doris Day in the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock film “The Man Who Knew Too Much”.
quid pro quo	Latin	Something for something else, often a fair exchange, sometimes used in sexual harassment cases.	Ron gave me his candy bar as quid pro quo for my soft drink.
quod erat demonstratum	Latin	As demonstrated (“Q.E.D.”).
raison d’être	French 🇫🇷	Reason for being.
rendezvous	French 🇫🇷	Agree to meet, meeting.
safari	Swahili	A journey, expedition.
saffron	Arabic	A spice, originally from “za‘farān” then later old french “safran”.	Saffron is the most expensive spice and food on Earth – but a little goes a long way.
salaam	Arabic	Peace from (al)-salām.	Salaam alei·kum “peace be upon you” is a greeting used by Muslims.
sang froid	French 🇫🇷	Cold blood.
savoir-faire	French 🇫🇷	Knowledge of what to do.
schadenfreude	German 🇩🇪	Taking pleasure at someone else’s misfortune.
shampoo	Hindi	Massage, rub (Hindustani “chāmpo” to press).	Humans, animals, cars and furniture can all be shampooed. One of the most common foreign words of Hindi origin used in English.
sine qua non	Latin	Indispensable (Latin “without which not”).
smorgasbord	Swedish 🇸🇪	Sandwich or buffet with variety of dishes or situation with many choices.	See also moped and gauntlet.
soupçon	French 🇫🇷	Hint of (French “suspicion”).
status quo	Latin	Existing state or condition.	Hannah didn’t like change and preferred to maintain the status quo. Also a famous rock band.
tempus fugit	Latin	Time flies.
tête-à-tête	French 🇫🇷	A private conversation (French “head to head”).
tour de force	French 🇫🇷	A feat of strength.
troika	Russian 🇷🇺	“Troe” in Russian means “set of three” and was used to refer to politicians and adminstrators.	A troika is a sleigh or carriage drawn by a group of three horses harnessed abreast before being used more generally as a group of three.
tsunami	Japanese 🇯🇵	A large tidal wave (Japanese “harbor wave”).	More Japanese words used in English…
tycoon	Japanese 🇯🇵	Business leader (from Japanese “taikun” meaning “high commander”).	The 72 year-old tycoon was one of America’s most generous philanthropists.
uber / über	German 🇩🇪	Very, max, possessing property to an extreme (German “over”).	Uber has become one of the fastest growing foreign language words used in English due to the rise of the Uber brand around the world.
vendetta	Italian 🇮🇹	Private revenge feud among families of murdered persons.	Vendetta is one of the most common foreign words in English of Italian origin.
veni, vidi, vici	Latin	I came, I saw, I conquered.
verboten	German 🇩🇪	Forbidden.
vis-à-vis	French 🇫🇷	As compared with
wunderkind	German 🇩🇪	Boy wonder from the German “wonder child”.	A boy succeeding at an early age could be a wunderkind.
zeitgeist	German 🇩🇪	Spirit of the times.	2020 zeitgeist words; pandemic, lockdown, furlough, environment.

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