noun
- words or expressions borrowed from a foreign language that retain their foreign character in the adopting language
Usage: linguistics; plural form
Examples
- The English language contains many alienisms from French, such as ‘café’ and ‘résumé’.
- Linguists study alienisms to understand how languages influence each other.
- Some alienisms eventually become fully integrated into the host language.
- The professor explained how alienisms differ from fully naturalized loanwords.
- Italian alienisms like ‘pizza’ and ‘pasta’ are common in English menus.
- Academic writing often contains alienisms from Latin and Greek.