30 Everyday Words That Aren’t English: Prove You Know Their Real Language Roots
- - 30 Everyday Words That Aren’t English: Prove You Know Their Real Language Roots
Gerda K.November 5, 2025 at 1:01 AM
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Did you know English didn’t really start out as English?
A huge chunk of the language actually comes from elsewhere. In fact, some estimates say close to 80% of English words were borrowed from other languages over time. We’ve picked up German (kindergarten), Latin (audio), Italian (opera), Japanese (karaoke), plus words from Sanskrit (yoga) and even Finnish (sauna). And that’s not the end – it’s still evolving every day.
In this quiz, you’ll get 30 loanwords that we use every day. All you have to do is spot the language they came from.
If you haven’t tried Part 1 of this quiz yet, definitely check it out here!
Let’s see how many you know! 📖
🚀 💡 Want more or looking for something else? Head over to the Bored Panda Quizzes and explore our full collection of quizzes and trivia designed to test your knowledge, reveal hidden insights, and spark your curiosity.💡 🚀
Image credits: ClickerHappy
Which language does the word “ninja” come from?
◯ Chinese ◯ Japanese ◯ Thai ◯ Korean
The English word “avocado” comes from which Indigenous language?
◯ Nahuatl ◯ Quechua ◯ Maya ◯ Taíno
Fill in the blank:
◯ Greek ◯ Turkish ◯ Arabic ◯ Latin
The word “kiosk” comes from:
◯ Persian ◯ Russian ◯ German ◯ Dutch
True or false: “Tornado” comes from Chinese.
◯ True ◯ False
The word “paprika” comes from which language?
◯ Polish ◯ Hungarian ◯ Turkish ◯ Czech
Fill in the blank:
◯ Hawaiian ◯ Tahitian ◯ Samoan ◯ Maori
The word “tennis” was borrowed from which language?
◯ Latvian ◯ French ◯ Swedish ◯ English (original)
🧠 Curious to see the rest? Take the full quiz here 🧠
Source: “AOL Entertainment”