What percentage of words in the English language have been derived from French (when compared to, say, German, Latin and all other sources)?

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What percentage of words in the English language have been derived from French (when compared to, say, German, Latin and all other sources)?

Question #150891. Asked by odo5435.
Last updated Apr 04 2024.
Originally posted Apr 04 2024 10:22 AM.

psnz

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psnz

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Answer has 3 votes.

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In the Wikipedia article "Foreign-language influences in English" a survey of the origins of some 80,000 words (c. 1973) is cited. The results were:

Latin - 29%
French - 29%
Germanic - 26%
Others - 16%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign-language_influences_in_English

Apr 04 2024, 2:11 PM

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Answer 1

There are varying estimates but this site claims approximately 29% of English is derived from "Anglo-French", followed by Latin 29%, Germanic Languages 26%, Greek 6%, Unknown 6% and Proper Names 4%

https://medium.com/@andreas_simons/the-english-language-is-a-lot-more-french-than-we-thought-heres-why-4db2db3542b3

What percentage of words in the English language have been derived from French (when compared to, say, German, Latin and all other sources)?

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