Where did these English words come from?

58 Comments

1. I did not do so well on this one.

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   • Hey, you can’t win ’em all! This is an old one, as I recall, pretty tricky. |Thanks for taking it on though 🙂

2. 7 out of 10 is a pretty good score

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   • That’s pretty good, alright 🙂

3. You got 8 out of 10 right!

   Hey you’re a budding etymologist! I didn’t know Adobe had Arabic roots.

   (I was checking out your Quiz list and I seemed to have missed a few. Compiling such a list is really a great idea)

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   • There are quite a few technical words in English that either have an Arabic origin, or came to English via Arabic, although the Arabs borrowed the word from Greek. For example, our word ‘alembic’ (used for distillation) comes from Arabic الانبيق which in turn was borrowed from Greek ‘ambix’ meaning cup. This is the kind of thing that gets me quite excited – although I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea 😀

4. Thanks for shearing this information

   • I hope you enjoyed it 🙂

5. Great quiz! 7/10 for me this time.

   • Glad you enjoyed this one! And well done 🙂

     • Thank you 🙂

6. only 4 are correct

   • That’s not bad for such a tricky test!

7. 10 out of 10. This was fun Norman!

   • Ah, you’re just too smart 😉

     • I enjoyed it Norman! Thanks for the compliment.

       • ☺?

8. Shared on Facebook 21/6/17

9. Only three!

   • It was a very hard quiz, Michelle! But thanks for playing 🙂

10. your welcome my friend I enjoy it

11. I got 3 only???

    • It was surely a difficult quiz, Irene. Thanks for playing 🙂

12. Very hard but I like a challenge. 5 correct.

    • That’s not bad for such a challenging quiz, Carol! Hard ones are the only ones worth doing, I reckon 😉

13. 5

    • Not bad at all, Shivam!

14. I got 5 right

    • Not bad at all, Edith!

15. 6/10

    • Muy bien 🙂

16. Got 5 out of 10 right!

    Not so bad

    • That’s pretty good, Lucia 🙂

17. Only got 4 right, but fun quiz!

    • Good going, Eli’s Mom! Thanks for playing 🙂

18. 10/10, whoohoo! I love languages, that is why: I am a true linguist. Great quiz! PS Is Gothic actually a language though?

    • Way to go, Maggie! Seems you’re a true language-lover, like me 🙂 And yes, Gothic is an extinct Germanic language, quite closely related to German, English and the Scandinavian languages! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_language

19. Hah! 5 of 10

    • 5/10 is a respectable pass! And maybe you’ll even remember some of the other answers 🙂 Thanks for playing

20. This was a tough one! I got 6/10.

    • You’re right it was a tough one! Well done 🙂

21. I got 2. Etymologists I think could get this perfect. But this is a nice quiz, so informative. Good job Norman 🙂

    • Happy you enjoyed it, TL. Better really hard than really easy IMO 🙂

22. That was really difficult. I only managed 5 out of 10.

    • It sure was difficult, and 5 right is not at all shoddy!

23. A mere two

    • That only leaves a mere eight to learn 😉 Thanks for playing!

24. Not bad I got 7!

    • Not bad at all, Simey!

25. Ugh, half right. Great quiz!

    • 50% is a decent score in my reckoning. It’s no easy quiz 🙂

26. Im about to take it. I was thinking of doing one like this, great minds! Watch me get like one right. lol

    • me too. hahaha

    • There’s plenty more words out there waiting to find their place in your quiz, Kim!

27. Well got 9 incorrect LOL

    • LOL Aries – the only way is up 🙂

      • anyways how did you get that 2k shares woo! hahah

        • The shares number here is always WAY wrong, Aries. There were, I’d guess, 12 to 20 shares 🙂