A calque or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word (Latin: "verbum pro verbo") translation. This list contains examples of calques in various languages.
English
From Mandarin Chinese
Running dog calques . brainwashing calques brainwashing. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 – usage via U.S. military during Korean War. lose face calques Oxford English Dictionary 3rd Edition, September 2009, updated September 2021 s.v. 'face (n.)' P8.h(a), attested 1834 Paper tiger calques Novotná, Z., "Contributions to the Study of Loan-Words and Hybrid Words in Modern Chinese", Archiv Orientální, (Prague), No. 35 (1967), pp. 613–648. (In English; examples of loan words and calques in Chinese)Novotná, Z., "Contributions to the Study of Loan-Words and Hybrid Words in Modern Chinese", Archiv Orientální, (Prague), No. 36 (1968), pp. 295–325. (In English; examples of loan words and calques in Chinese)Novotná, Z., "Contributions to the Study of Loan-Words and Hybrid Words in Modern Chinese", Archiv Orientální, (Prague), No. 37 (1969), pp. 48–75. (In English; examples of loan words and calques in Chinese) Potsticker calques Long time no see calques .
From French By heart (or off by heart) probably calques Middle French par cœurOxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition, 2013, updated online September 2021, s.v. 'heart' P1.c Free verse calques vers librefree verse. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Old Guard calques Vieille Garde (the most senior regiments of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon I)old guard. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Flea market calques marché aux pucesflea market. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Marriage of convenience calques French mariage de convenanceLynch, Guide to Grammar and Style – N New Wave (artistic period) calques Nouvelle Vaguenew wave. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 rhinestone calques caillou du Rhin "Rhine pebble" that goes without saying calques cela va sans direForeign Words. Fowler, H. W. 1908. The King's English Forget-me-not calques Old French ne m'oubliez myeOxford English Dictionary, 1st edition, s.v. crime of passion from crime passionnel J. R. R. Tolkien used the name "Bag End" as a calque of "cul-de-sac", to poke fun at the British use of French terms.Tom A. Shippey, The Road to Middle Earth, Grafton, 1992 page 66 (1st Edition George Allen & Unwin 1982)
From German or Dutch Masterpiece: probably translation of Dutch meesterstuk or German Meisterstück: Dutch meester and German Meister, master + Dutch stuk and German Stück, piece of work.masterpiece. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Retrieved 17 November 2008. (The Dutch translation of masterpiece is meesterwerk, the German translation is Meisterwerk. A Meisterstück is the craftwork that serves as a sort of "thesis" for a master craftsman-to-be.)
From Dutch Iceberg from the Dutch ijsberg Superconductor calques Dutch supergeleider Pineapple calques Dutch pijnappel, which calques French pomme de pin (both meaning 'pinecone') freebooter calques Dutch vrijbuiter
From German Antibody calques Antikörperantibody. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Assault rifle calques Sturmgewehr Ball lightning calques KugelblitzEnglish in Europe by Manfred Görlach Beer garden calques Biergartenbeer garden. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Concertmaster and concertmeister calque Konzertmeisterconcertmaster – Definitions from Dictionary.com Earworm calques Ohrwurm Flamethrower calques Flammenwerfer Foreword perhaps calques Vorwort, which itself calques Latin præfatio (from præ- "before" plus fari "speak") "preface" Heroic tenor calques Heldentenorheldentenor – Definitions from Dictionary.com Intelligence quotient calques Intelligenzquotient Loan translation calques Lehnübersetzung Loanword calques Lehnwortloanword – Definitions from Dictionary.com Nostalgia (formed from Greek νόστος "homecoming" plus ἄλγος "pain") calque Heimweh "home sore" Overman and superman (i.e., self-transcending human) calque Übermenschsuperman. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Power politics calques Machtpolitik Rainforest calques Regenwald Standpoint (point of view) calques Standpunktstandpoint. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Superego (formed from Latin super- "over, above" plus ego "I") calques Überich "over-I" Stormtroopers calques Sturmtruppenstorm trooper. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Subliminal (formed from Latin sub-, "below", plus limen (gen. liminis, "threshold") calques unterschwellig, "beneath the threshold" Thought experiment calques Gedankenexperiment"thought experiment." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2008. Watershed calques Wasserscheide Worldview calques German Weltanschauungworldview. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
From Hebrew Scapegoat is a calque of עזאזל (Azazel) as ez ozel (literally, "the goat that departs", hence "[e]scape goat). This neologism is attributed to Tyndale's 1530 Bible translation. Passover calques, somewhat phonologically, פֶּסַח .
From Latin Commonplace calques locus commūnis (referring to a generally applicable literary passage), which itself is a calque of Greek koinos toposcommonplace. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Devil's advocate calques advocātus diabolī, referring to an official appointed to present arguments against a proposed canonization or beatification in the Catholic Churchdevil's advocate. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Wisdom tooth calques dēns sapientiae, which in turn calques Arabic aḍrāsu 'lḥikmi, which calques Greek σωΦρονιστῆρες, used by Hippocrates.Oxford English Dictionary s.v. Milky Way calques via lacteaMilky Way. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Rest in peace calques requiescat in paceRIP. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 In a nutshell calques in nucein a nutshell – Definitions from Dictionary.comPliny VII.21
From Spanish Blue-blood calques blue blood. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Fifth column calques Killer whale from ballena asesina Moment of truth calques , the final sword thrust in a bullfight.moment of truth. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000
From other languages Deep state calques Turkish derin devlet Gospel calques Greek εὐαγγέλιον (evangelion) 'good news'gospel. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 Hotdish calques Scandinavian varmrett/varmrätt ground nut calques Tamil நிலக்கடலை (nila kadalai) The Littlejohn adaptor calques the Czech name of the inventor František Janeček Many words and phrases calqued by Latin from Greek have been borrowed by English.
Latin
From Greek Latin calques many terms from Greek,Eleanor Detreville, "An Overview of Latin Morphological Calques on Technical Terms: Formation and Success", M.A. thesis, University of Georgia, 2015, full textMichèle Fruyt, "Latin Vocabulary", in James Clackson, ed., A Companion to the Latin Language, p. 152. many of which have been borrowed by English.
compassion calques συμπάθεια (sympathia) "sympathy" (Latin: "suffering with", Greek: "suffering together") deus ex machina calques ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apo mechanēs theos) (Latin: "god out of the machine", Greek: "out of the machine, god") insectus calques ἔντομον (entomon) ("insect", from words meaning "to cut into" in the respective languages)Webster's Third New International Dictionary locus communis calques κοινὸς τόπος, and was later calqued in English as commonplaceOxford English Dictionary s.v. musculus "muscle" (= "common house mouse", literally "little mouse" from mus "mouse") calques μῦς (mys) "muscle" (= "mouse") magnanimus calques μεγαλόψυχος (megalopsychos) ('great-souled') quinta essentia calques πέμπτη οὐσία.Oxford English Dictionary s.v. quod erat demonstrandum 'which was to be demonstrated' is a calque of ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι (hoper edei deixai) 'what needed to be [shown] has been shown'.Oxford English Dictionary s.v. similaris 'similar' calques ὁμοιομερής.Oxford English Dictionary, Third Edition, 2019 s.v. 'similar' Many grammatical terms: participium 'participle' from μετοχή, declinationem 'declension' from κλίσις, etc.
Romance languages
Examples of Romance language expressions calqued from foreign languages include: French lune de miel, Catalan lluna de mel, Spanish luna de miel, Portuguese lua-de-mel, Italian luna di miele and Romanian luna de miere calque English honeymoon French gratte-ciel, Catalan gratacels, Spanish rascacielos, Portuguese arranha-céus, Romanian zgârie-nori and Italian grattacielo calque English skyscraper French sabot de Denver calques English Denver boot French jardin d'enfants, Spanish jardín de infancia and Portuguese Jardim de infância calque German Kindergarten (children's garden) Spanish baloncesto and Italian pallacanestro calque English basketball Spanish balonvolea and Italian pallavolo calque English volleyball
French
French courriel (contraction of courrier électronique) calques English email (contraction of electronic mail) French disque dur calques English hard disk French carte mère calques English motherboard French eau de vie calques Latin aqua vitae French en ligne calques English online French hors-ligne (literally: "out of line, off line") calques English offline French haute résolution calques English high resolution French haute tension calques English high voltage French disque compact calques English compact disc French haute fidélité calques English hi-fi (high fidelity) French large bande calques English broadband French modulation de fréquence calques English frequency modulation (FM) French média de masse calques English mass media French seconde main calques English second hand French sortir du placard calques English to come out of the closet French surhomme calques German Übermensch (Nietzsche's concept) French souris calques English mouse (computer peripheral) French OVNI (Objet Volant Non Identifié) calques English UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) In some dialects of French, the English term "weekend" becomes la fin de semaine ("the end of week"), a calque, but in some it is left untranslated as le week-end, a loanword. French cor anglais (literally English horn) is a near-calque of English French horn. In English cor anglais refers to a completely different musical instrument.
Spanish
Many calques found in Southwestern US Spanish come from English: Spanish escuela alta calques English high school (secundaria or escuela secundaria in Standard Spanish) Spanish grado (de escuela) calques English grade (in school) (nota in Standard Spanish) Spanish manzana de Adán calques English Adam's apple (nuez de Adán, meaning "Adam's nut", in standard Spanish), which in turn is a calque of French pomme d'Adam
Also technological terms calqued from English are used throughout the Spanish-speaking world: Spanish rascacielos calques English skyscraper Spanish tarjeta de crédito calques English credit card Spanish alta tecnología calques English high technology Spanish disco compacto calques English compact disc Spanish correo electrónico calques English electronic mail