What are loanwords?

A loanword is when a language borrows a word from another language, just like when you borrow a toy from your friend.

Imagine you're playing with blocks, and your friend has a cool new block that says “chocolate” on it. You really like it, so you take the block and start using the word “chocolate” in your game too. That’s kind of what happens with loanwords, one language takes a word from another and uses it in its own games (or sentences).

Sometimes, when a word comes into a new language, it might change a little bit. It's like how you might say “chokolate” at first before learning the correct way to say it.

Examples of loanwords are all around us, words like “sushi” (from Japanese), “piano” (from Italian), and even “gym” (from Greek). These words entered English because people found them useful, fun, or just really cool.

So next time you hear a word that feels foreign but still makes sense, it might be a loanword, a guest in the language party!