List of English words of French origin (S–Z)

A great number of words of French origin have entered the English language to the extent that many Latin words have come to the English language.

Main article: List of English words of French origin

S

T

U

V

W

Many imported words beginning with "w" in English have cognates in French that start with a "g" or "gu". This is because the English word was not borrowed directly from French or Old French, but from some of the northern langue d'oïl dialects such as Picard and Norman, where the original "w" sound was preserved (the majority of these words are words of Germanic origin, and stem mainly from either the Frankish language, or other ancient Germanic languages, like Burgundian). In Old French, the initial "w" sound was prefixed by the letter "g" as "gw" and then the "w" sound was later lost. The "w" survives in orthography as "u" in "gu", but only to produce a hard "g" sound.

  • wafer (Cf Old Fr. gaufre, gofre)
  • wage (Cf Old Fr. gage)
  • wager, (Cf Old Fr. gager).
  • wait, Old N. Fr. waitier [to watch] (compare modern Fr. guetter), from Frankish *wahton
  • waive, Anglo-Fr. weyver, from Old Fr. weyver, guever, probably from a Scandinavian source
  • wallet
  • wallop
  • Walter, Old N. Fr. Waltier (Old Fr. Gautier), of Germanic origin
  • war, Old N. Fr. werre, (compare Fr. guerre), from Frankish *werra
  • warble, Old N. Fr. werbler, from Frankish *werbilon
  • warden, Old N. Fr. wardein, (compare Fr. gardien), from Frankish *warding-
  • warder, Anglo-Fr. wardere, from Old N. Fr. warder, (compare Fr. garder [to guard])
  • wardrobe, Old N. Fr. warderobe (Old Fr. garderobe)
  • warrant, Old N. Fr. warant (Old Fr. guarant), from Frankish *warand
  • warranty, Anglo-Fr. and Old N. Fr. warantie (Old Fr. guarantie)
  • warren, Anglo-Fr. and Old N. Fr. warenne (Old Fr. garenna), possibly from Gaulish *varenna
  • warrior, Old N. Fr. werreieor (Old Fr. guerreor)
  • waste (Old Northern Fr. wast, Cf Modern French gâter "to spoil, waste")
  • wicket, Old N. Fr. wiket (compare Fr. guichet), from a Germanic source
  • wile, Old N. Fr. wile (Old Fr. guile)
  • William, Old N. Fr. Willaume (Old Fr. Guillaume), of Germanic origin
  • wince, Old N. Fr. wenchier (Old Fr. guenchir), from Frankish *wenkjan
  • Wisconsin, from Ouisconsin, a French variant of a Native American word

X
  • xebec Fr. chébec, from Italian sciabecco, from Arabic shabbak

Z
  • zany Fr. zani, from Italian Zanni ["Johnny"]
  • zebu Fr. zébu, from Tibetan
  • zenith Old Fr. cenith (compare modern Fr. zénith), from Arabic
  • zest Fr. zeste
  • zigzag Fr. zigzag
  • zodiac Old Fr. zodiaque, from Latin zodiacus, from Greek zodiakos
  • zouave
  • zydeco

See also

References
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