Ever wondered whether there are any English words with Arabic origins? Find out here!
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Alcohol
From Arabic al-kuḥl (الكحل) meaning “the kohl”, a fine powder of stibnite used as makeup to define the eyes. In medieval Arabic, the word referred to any very fine powder. It entered medieval Latin in the 13th century, in which it was also used to describe a very fine powder. Alchemists broadened its use to encompass distilled substances like ethanol and spirits – and that’s how it came into English in the 16th century.
Alchemy
From Arabic al-kīmiyāʾ (الكيمياء) meaning “the art of transformation.” The word arrived in English via medieval Latin (“alchymia”) and Old French (“alquemie”, “alkimie”) and retained the meaning of “transmutation science”, i.e. the attempt to turn base metals into gold. The Arabic word itself was borrowed from the Greek “khēmeia”.
Alcove
From Arabic al-qubbah (القبة) meaning “vault” or “dome.” The Spanish adopted the word and turned it into alcoba, which originally meant a vaulted room but then evolved to refer to a bedchamber or recessed room. The word spread to France as alcove and jumped from there into England. In modern English, “alcove” can mean a shady retreat, or, in an architectural context, a small niche or recess built off the side of a larger room.
Algebra
From Arabic al-jabr (الجبر) meaning “reunion/resetting of broken parts” and originally used to describe the surgical procedure of bone-setting.
In the 9th century, the term acquired a mathematical meaning when the Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi employed it to describe a method of balancing equations and used it in the title of a treatise on algebra, al-Kitāb al-Mukhtaṣar fī Ḥisāb al-Jabr wal-Muqābalah (EN: The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing).
Incidentally, the name al-Khwarizmi is where we get the word “algorithm” from – one of the most important (and controversial) concepts in the digital world of the 21st century.
Amalgam
From Arabic al-malgham (الملغم) meaning “softening agent” or “emollient poultice”. The word amalgam eventually entered the English language via the medieval Latin “amalgama”, meaning “mercury alloy” – the same meaning it has today, frequently applied to materials containing mercury which are used to fill cavity-strewn teeth.
Apricot
From Arabic al-barqūq (البرقوق), meaning apricot – or, in some dialects, plum or peach. The Arabic word which went on to become “apricot” in English is thought to have originally sprung from the Latin “praecox”, meaning an early-ripening fruit. Which incidentally, is where we got the word “precocious” from.
Arsenal
From Arabic dār aṣ-ṣinā‘a (دار الصناعة) meaning a “workshop” or “manufacturing shop” and referred to a government workshop or armoury. “Arsenal” was used in English for the first time in the 1500s and meant a naval dockyard or storehouse for arms.
Artichoke
From Arabic al-khurshuf (الخرشوف). The word artichoke made its entrance into the English language in the 16th century, with the Italian “articiocco” and French “artichaut” being its most direct antecedents.
Barbican
Possibly from Arabic barbakh (بَرْبَخ) meaning “an outwork, conduit or water trench”, although the exact etymology is disputed. This word arrived in English via French “barbacane” and now means a fortified gatehouse at the entrance to a city – such as the one at Walmgate Bar in my hometown of York, England.
Calibre (US spelling: caliber)
From Arabic qālib or qālab (قالب) meaning “mould, form or template”. In metal-casting, a qālib is a mold used to shape something, but the meaning also extends to the diameter of a projectile or bore. English picked the word calibre up from French in the late 16th century, initially applying it to a gun bore diameter. Only later would it acquire its current associations with high quality.
Camphor
From Arabic kāfūr (كافور), an aromatic resin or crystalline substance used by Arabs for medicinal and perfumery purposes. The word made its way through medieval Latin (camphora) and Old French (camphre) before landing in English in the 14th century. The Arabic word was probably a borrowing from Austronesian languages (Malay: kapur = lime, chalk).
Carafe
Supposed to come from Arabic gharfa (غرفة) meaning “a ladleful or a scoop”. Alternatively, some cite Arabic gharrāfa (غَرّافة), meaning a “dipper, drinking vessel”. The word arrived in English in the late 18th century from Italy or France, where it existed as the words “carafe” and “caraffa” respectively. In English, it now refers to an open-topped wine or water decanter.
Carat
From Arabic qīrāṭ (قيراط) meaning “a small weight” or a unit of weight. The Arabic word was derived from the Greek “keration“, meaning a carob seed. These were used through history as a measurement for precious gems such as diamonds and the purity of metals used in jewellery, since their weight was (wrongly) thought not to vary too much.
Cipher
From Arabic ṣifr (صفر). This word came to Europe along with Arabic numerals and originally meant “zero” or “empty”, although it went on to mean “any number” – the meaning which is still ascribed to its German descendant, “Ziffer”. In English, “cipher” now has several meanings:
- A code or secret writing – A method of transforming a message to keep it secret (i.e. “The spy sent a message in cipher to avoid detection.”). Similarly, when you turn the code back into common language, you decipher it.
- Zero or nothing, lacking value – i.e. “After losing everything, he felt like a mere cipher.”
- A person of no importance or influence – i.e. “He was treated like a cipher in the company.”
- A mathematical symbol for zero – i.e. “The number 100 has two ciphers at the end.”
- A combination of letters or symbols used as a monogram – A decorative symbol or emblem, i.e. “The royal cipher was engraved on the crown.”
Cotton
From Arabic quṭn (قطن). The Arabs cultivated and traded cotton, and introduced the term to Europe. The English word “cotton” appeared by the late 13th century (in forms like cotoun), via Anglo-French.
Coffee
From Arabic qahwa (قهوة). Qahwa originally meant “wine” or “infusion,” but was being used by the 15th century for the beverage made from coffee beans. The English word English “coffee” appeared by the early 17th century, likely via Turkish (“kahve”) or through Dutch koffie.
Candy (UK: crystallised sugar; US: a general term for sweet confectionery)
The word appeared in English in the 13th century as “sugre candy”, probably derived from the French “cucre candi”, meaning “sugar candy”. This, in turn probably came from the Arabic qand (قند) meaning “crystallised sugar” or “rock candy”.
Cumin
From Arabic kamūn (كمون). In Old English, the word “comyn” was used, evolving into “cymen” in Middle English and then developing into the Modern English “cumin”.
Elixir
From Arabic al-iksīr (الإكسير), which is in turn a borrowing from the Greek word xērion, a powder used to heal wounds. “Elixir” was used for centuries in alchemy to refer to a liquid which could be used to turn lead into gold or to give someone eternal life. These days, it is commonly used to describe a medicinal liquid, probably sweet, which is ingested to help cure an illness.
Garble
From Arabic gharbala (غربل, from gharbal “to sift”) – meaning “to sift” or to “separate out”. Italian merchants adopted the term as “garbellare” (“to sift (spices)”) by the 14th century. The word wandered into medieval French, and from there into English where, from the 13th century onwards, “garble” meant “to sort out impurities” (especially of spices). In fact, “garblers” were the people who sifted goods for quality in medieval London.
Over time, the word’s use had shifted and, by the 19th century, garble had come to mean “to mix up” or “distort,” perhaps from the idea of jumbled sorting.
Gauze
The most persuasive argument for the origin of this word is that it comes from Arabic ghazz (غَزّ) meaning “raw silk”. In any case, the word arrived in England in the 16th century via the French “gaze”.
Ghoul
From Arabic ghūl (غول) meaning a demon or evil spirit that robs graves and feeds on corpses in Arabian folklore.
Gibraltar
From Arabic Jabal Ṭāriq (جبل طارق) meaning “mountain of Tariq”, the name of the Muslim commander Tariq ibn Ziyad who landed there in 711, commencing the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.
Harem
From Arabic ḥarām (حرام) meaning “sacrosanct”, “forbidden” or “prohibited”, a “prohibited place”. The English word harem (first recorded in the 1600s) came via Turkish or French, referring to the private household and women’s apartments of a Muslim nobleman.
Hazard
From Arabic al-zahr (الزهر) meaning “the dice.” In Old French, hazard/hasart meant a game of chance using dice; the word came into English in the 14th century as “hazard”, also meaning a dice game. Over time, it came to mean “any chance or risk”.
Jar
From Arabic jarrah (جرّة) meaning “earthenware vessel.” In English, “jar” originally referred to large containers used to import olive oil before evolving to mean a glass or clay vessel, probably cylindrical, used to store liquids, conserves and similar.
Jasmine
From Arabic yasamin (ياسمين). First used in England in the 16th century to refer to the well-known shrub with fragrant blooms that had been imported to England from the Middle East.
Julep
From Arabic julāb (جُلاب) meaning “rose water syrup.” In English, a julep used to mean a nice-tasting drink in which unpleasant medicine was taken to ease its ingestion. In later times, it has come to meant a much nicer sweet cocktail (such as the delicious Mint Julep).
Lacquer
From Arabic lakka (لكة) meaning “lac,” a resinous substance made from crushing scale insects and used as a red dye or varnish. The word was adopted from India by Arab traders. By 1400, the French were using the word “laque”. The word was initially adopted into English as “lac” but then changed to “lacquer”, meaning the varnish made from the lac resin.
Lemon
From Arabic laymūn (ليمون). The fruit is thought to have been brought to the Levant from India in the 9th or 10th century before the Arabs took it to Europe. The Arabic root word is believed to have an older, Austronesian origin (Malay: limaw, Balinese: limo).
Lute
From Arabic al-ʿūd (العود), a short-necked wooden musical instrument (in Arabic, ʿūd literally means “wood,” referring to the wooden soundboard). The instrument and its name were transmitted from Arabic into Muslim Spanish and then the rest of Western Europe during the Middle Ages.
Marzipan
The ultimate origin of this word is disputed with several arguments making the rounds. Some say it comes from the Arabic word mauthaban (مَوْثَبَان) meaning “king’s seat” or “king who sits still”. Other etymologists cite marṭabān (مرطبان) – meaning “spice jar” or “ceramic jar for sweets” as the true origin. English originally used the word “marchpane” which came from a medieval Italian word (“marzapane“) but then adopted the German term marzipan in the 19th century to describe the sugary almond paste we know today.
Mascara
Probably from Arabic maskhara (مسخرة) meaning “buffoon, mockery or something to ridicule” (through the idea of disguising the face).
Mattress
From Arabic maṭraḥ (مطرح) meaning “place where something is thrown down” and referring to a floor covering to sleep on. During the Crusades, Europeans adopted the Arabic style of sleeping on cushions, and along with it, the relevant vocabulary for the furniture involved. The Italian medieval word “materasso” and Old French “materas” came from the Arabic al-maṭraḥ and were the direct antecedents of the English “mattress” which appeared in the 14th century.
Magazine
From Arabic maḵāzin, plural of makhzan (مخزن) meaning “storehouse.” English adopted the word from French and initially used it to mean a storehouse for ammunition or supplies – a use which is retained today. However, by the 18th century, the sense of “a storehouse of information” led to the term magazine for a periodical publication. Thus, magazine in both senses comes through French from Arabic makhazin “storehouses”. (Modern French still uses the word “le magasin” to refer to any commercial shop.)
Monsoon
From Arabic mawsim (موسم) meaning “(appropriate) season”. The word is thought to have been picked up by Portuguese sailors in the Indian Ocean who then used the adapted word monçao to describe things which recur each year, like festivals or weather patterns. Eventually, it came to mean a time of year or season when the Monsoon winds made it possible to sail to the East Indies. The Dutch and English adopted it as “monssoen” or ” “monsoon” by the 17th century for the periodic wind and rain seasons in South Asia.
Mummy
From Arabic mūmiyāʾ (مومياء) meaning “embalmed body.” Going back, it seems to spring from the Persian word “mumiya”, meaning “bitumen”, the substance used in embalming the corpse. The term was introduced to Europe via medieval Latin “mumia” – a medical term for powdered mummy, which was believed to have healing properties and used as a drug. By the 14th century, “mummy” in English referred to the medicinal preparation of ground embalmed flesh which was also used in England for healing purposes. It took until the 17th century for the meaning to shift to the embalmed corpse itself.
Orange
From Arabic nāranj (نارنج). The orange tree probably originated in northern India: the root word is assumed to be the Sanskrit “naranga”. Arabs brought the fruit to Europe in the 10th century where the name was adopted by the Spanish as “naranja”. The French dropped the initial “n-“, turning “une norenge” into “une orenge”. Which, of course was the last step on the way to the English word “orange”.
Ream
From Arabic rizma (رزمة) meaning “bundle, package” – specifically a bundle of papers or goods. With the introduction of paper to Europe via the Arabs, the term for a bundle of sheets came too. The Arabic word rizma entered Spanish as “resma” by the 13th century, meaning a ream of paper. The English word “ream” (of paper) was borrowed either from that Spanish word or from the French “rame” in the 14th or 15th century. It has meant a quantity of paper (eventually standardised as 500 sheets) ever since.
Safari
From Arabic safar (سفر) meaning “journey.” The word came into English from Swahili “safari”, which itself was borrowed from Arabic “safar“.
Saffron
From Arabic za‘farān (زعفران), the valuable orange-yellow spice made from dried crocus stigma widely used in medieval Arab cooking and medicine. “Za‘farān” entered medieval Latin as “safranum” (recorded in Genoa in the 1150s). From Latin/Italian it passed to Old French as “safran“. Middle English adopted it by the 13th century as “saffron“, referring to both the spice and its bright colour.
Sahara
From Arabic ṣaḥrāʾ (صحراء) meaning “desert.”
Sofa
From Arabic ṣuffah (صُفّة) meaning “bench of stone or wood” or “raised platform with cushions”. The word was transmitted via the Ottoman Turkish word “sofa“, which described a low, cushioned platform or divan. European travellers in the 16th century adopted this word for the oriental style seating. It entered French and English by the 1620s to mean a Turkish-style couch on which one sits atop cushions. By late 17th century, the French had extended the meaning of “sofa” to mean a piece of furniture (with legs), which usage carried into English as “sofa”, our modern upholstered couch.
Sugar
From Arabic sukkar (سكر), which goes back to Sanskrit “sharkara”. Cane sugar originally came from India and was brought to Europe by the Arabs where it was thought exotic until after the Crusades when it began to displace honey as the favoured sweetener. Early English spellings like sugre and suker show French influence (“sucre”).
Talc
From Arabic ṭalq (طلق), which referred to various forms of soft, transparent, translucent and shining minerals such as talc proper, mica, selenite, etc used by Arab alchemists in medicinal and chemical recipes. Paracelsus and other 16th-century writers popularized the term in Europe.
Tarragon
From Arabic ṭarkhūn (طرخون), which is said to come from the Greek “drakon”, meaning dragon. The herb and its name were introduced to Europe via Arabic botany and was adopted in England in the mid-1500s.
Tambourine
From Arabic ṭanbūr (طنبور), a kind of lute or guitar. The English word “tambourine” was borrowed in the 16th–17th century from French “tambourin” (the diminutive of tambour) for the handheld drum with jingling metal disks that we recognise today.
Zenith
From Arabic samt ar-raʾs (سمت الرأس) meaning “path over the head” or “in the direction of the head”. Medieval Latin scribes, translating Arabic astronomy texts, misread samt as zenit/cenit. Phrases like samt al-rā’s were therefore rendered in Latin as zenith capitis. Consequently, by the 14th century, zenith in Latin/Old French had come to mean “the point directly overhead”. The English word “zenith” (first used in Chaucer’s texts on astrology) was borrowed from these Latin/Old French corruptions. These days, “zenith” in English means the “highest point” of something (i.e. “the zenith of her career”).
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Related articles:
English words of Indian origin
12 weird British sayings and their mysterious origins
Extinct words in English that we need to bring back
Old-fashioned words and phrases in English
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