Words From Other Languages — Set 1: Meanings flashcards
10 of 100 cards free to study here · 8 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys
The 100 most common of the 200 words English borrowed from other languages, from tour de force and karma to guacamole and fjord: pronunciation, a plain definition, three example sentences and usually the word's origin.
Learn deck · part of Words From Other Languages · written against: 200 loanwords English still feels as borrowed; American pronunciation, etymologies per Merriam-Webster; our own selection. Updated 2026-10-10.
Study the free sample
10 cards from the deck as they are. Flip, rate yourself, filter by topic; your progress stays in this browser.
Tap the card or press Space to flip
The 10 sample cards as a list
-
tour de force (n.) · tuur duh FORSa brilliant piece of work or performance that proves how skilled or inventive the person behind it isFrench
The pianist's tour de force left the audience on its feet.
Her quilt, a tour de force of color, now hangs in the state museum.
The chess champion's final game was a tour de force of attack.
Origin: French, first recorded in English in 1802. -
en route (adv.) · ahn ROOTpartway through a journey, before getting where you are going; on the way or in transitFrench
We'll grab sandwiches en route to the airport.
The replacement part is en route and should arrive Thursday.
En route home, the bus stopped at a scenic overlook.
Origin: French, first recorded in English in 1779. -
trek (n., v.) · TREKa trip that covers a long way and wears you out, most often on foot; to make such a tripGerman & Dutch
Pioneers made the long trek west in covered wagons.
With the bridge closed, hikers faced a four-hour trek around the bay.
We trekked through mud for hours to reach the waterfall.
Origin: Afrikaans, from Dutch trecken, "to pull, haul, migrate." -
apartheid (n.) · uh-PAR-taytSouth Africa's old race laws, keeping people apart and withholding equal rights from anyone not white; any similar segregationGerman & Dutch
Apartheid in South Africa was dismantled in the early 1990s.
Under apartheid, Black South Africans were forced to carry passes.
Critics called the building's separate entrance for poorer tenants a form of apartheid.
Origin: Afrikaans, from apart, "apart," + -heid, "-hood." -
guerrilla (n., adj.) · guh-RIL-uha fighter in a small irregular band that strikes by surprise and slips away; using such tactics, or unconventional onesItalian & Spanish
Guerrillas struck army supply trains, then melted back into the forest.
The rebels waged a guerrilla war for over a decade.
The startup used guerrilla marketing, projecting ads onto buildings at night.
Origin: Spanish guerrilla, a diminutive of guerra, "war," which itself came from a Germanic language. -
kosher (adj.) · KOH-shurmeeting the requirements of Jewish dietary law; (informal) proper, legitimate or acceptableYiddish & Hebrew
The kosher deli never serves meat and cheese together.
Many of our guests keep kosher, so we hired a certified caterer.
Is it kosher to bring your own snacks into the theater?
Origin: Yiddish, from Hebrew kāshēr, "fit, proper." -
status quo (n.) · stay-tuhs KWOHthe way things are now, especially social or political conditions that some want to keepLatin & Greek
The new principal wasn't content with the status quo.
The union fought to keep the status quo on overtime pay.
Rather than challenge the status quo, the committee approved last year's plan again.
Origin: Latin, "state in which." -
karma (n.) · KAR-muhin Hinduism and Buddhism, the moral weight of deeds, shaping future lives; good or bad luck seemingly earned by conductAsian Languages
Hindu teaching holds that karma shapes the conditions of a person's next life.
She returned the lost wallet, figuring good karma would come back to her.
He mocked my haircut, then got gum stuck in his own hair: instant karma.
Origin: Sanskrit karma, "fate, work." -
sultan (n.) · SUHL-tuhnthe sovereign ruler of certain Muslim states, such as the Ottoman Empire in the past or Oman todayMiddle Eastern Languages
Ottoman sultans ruled from a palace overlooking the Bosporus.
Later Ottoman sultans were girded with a revered sword at Eyüp.
The proud sultan in the fable learns humility from a poor gardener.
Origin: Middle French, from Arabic sulṭān. -
robot (n.) · ROH-bahta machine that can do tasks on its own, often complex or repeated ones, sometimes built to look humanOther Languages
Robots now deliver room service in some hotels.
The robot vacuum bumped into a chair leg and changed direction.
Our science club's robot waters the school garden every morning.
Origin: Czech, from robota, "compulsory labor."
Unlock the whole deck
You are studying a free 10-card sample. All 100 cards of Words From Other Languages — Set 1: Meanings, the other 7 Words From Other Languages decks, and spaced-repetition scheduling are built into Willys. 14-day free trial, then $14.99 a year.
In Willys, tap Exam Library at the top of your Decks (or Browse Exam Library… under the + button), find the exam on its shelf or by search, tick it and tap Add.
More Words From Other Languages decks
← All Words From Other Languages decks, with the study guide and topic outline.
About these cards
Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.
Checked against:
- Senses, parts of speech and pronunciations checked against Merriam-Webster.com, the American Heritage Dictionary, the Collins English Dictionary and the Oxford Learner's, Longman and Cambridge learner's dictionaries; source-language forms against Larousse; all definitions, notes and example sentences are original.
- Word selection is our own, from general-reader news, textbooks and frequency data (wordfreq, CC BY-SA 4.0); no publisher's list is reproduced.
These are independent study notes written for Willys. They are not official exam material, may contain mistakes, and are no substitute for your course, your teacher or the exam owner's own publications. Found an error? Tell us — corrections ship as a new version of the deck.
Use of these pages is covered by our Terms of Use.