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This is a list English words of Polish origin, that is words used in the English language that were borrowed or derived, either directly or indirectly, from Polish. Several Polish words have entered English slang via Yiddish, brought by Ashkenazi Jews migrating from Poland to North America. Other English words were indirectly derived from Polish via Russian, French, German or Dutch. The Polish words themselves often come from other languages, such as German or Turkish. Borrowings from Polish tend to be mostly words referring to staples of Polish cuisine, names of Polish folk dances or specialist, e.g. horse-related, terminology. Among the words of Polish origin there are several words that derive from Polish geographic names and ethnonyms, including the name Polska, "Poland", itself.
The following words are derive directly from Polish. Some of them are loanwords in Polish itself.
| Word | Meaning | Etymology | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baba/Babka cake | A leavened coffee or rum cake flavored with orange rind, rum, almonds, and raisins | Polish babka ("yeast cake"), or diminutive of baba ("old woman") | AHD |
| Borscht | Beetroot soup | Polish barszcz | |
| Bigos | A Polish stew made with meat and cabbage | Polish bigos ← German begossen ("doused"), or German blei + guss ("lead pieces") | SWO |
| Britzka | A type of horse-drawn carriage | Polish bryczka, diminutive of bryka ("wagon") | [1] |
| Bryndza | Polish traditional cheese | Polish traditional crumby type cheese | |
| Intelligentsia | Educated social class | Polish inteligencja | |
| Kasha | Buckwheat grain porridge type | Polish kasza | |
| Kabanos | Type of thin dry sausage | Polish kabanos | |
| Kevlar | Synthetic fiber | From the name of Stephanie Kwolek, Polish scientist | |
| Kielbasa | A seasoned smoked Polish sausage | Polish kiełbasa ("sausage") ← Turkish kül bassï ("grilled cutlet") ← Turkic kül bastï: kül ("coals, ashes") + bastï, ("pressed (meat)") from basmaq ("to press"); | |
| Klotski | A sliding block puzzle | Polish klocki, plural of klocek ("toy block") | [citation needed] |
| Konik | A horse breed | Polish konik, diminutive of koń ("horse") | [citation needed] |
| Krakowiak | Polish national dance | Polish national dance from Krakow | |
| Krówka | Polish fudge type sweet | Diminutive of krowa, "cow" | |
| Kujawiak | Polish national dance | From the Polish region of Kujawy | |
| Makowiec | Type of rolled cake/bread | From Polish mak ("poppyseed") | |
| Mazurka | Polish national dance | From the Polish region of Mazowsze | |
| Mazurka | Type of cake | Polish cake from the Mazowsze region | |
| Mazurka | Classical music piece created by F.Chopin | Polish mazurek | |
| Marrowsky | Dated - A spoonerism | A Polish count's surname | OED |
| Oberek | Polish national dance | Polish oberek | |
| Ogonek | A hook-shaped diacritic | Polish ogonek ← diminutive of ogon ("tail") ← Proto-Slavic *ogonŭ (probably originally "that which drives away (flies and the like)"): *o-, ob-, ("around, on") + *goniti ("to push, chase, drive") | AHD |
| Oscypek | Polish traditional smoked cheese | Polish oscypek smoked cheese from the Tatra region | |
| Pączki | A Polish jam-filled doughnut | Polish pączki, plural of pączek ← diminutive of pąk ("bud") | AHD |
| Pierogi | A semicircular dumpling of unleavened dough with any of various fillings | Polish pierogi, plural of pieróg ("pie") ← Russian pirog ← Old Russian pirogŭ, from pirŭ ("feast") ← Proto-Slavic *pirŭ ← Proto-Indo-European *pō(i)- | AHD |
| Polish notation | Mathematical notation of operators/PN/NPN | Lukasiewicz notation | |
| Rendzina | Type of soils | From Old Polish rędzic to talk/tell | |
| Rogal | Polish crescent roll | Polish rogal - from róg, "horn" | |
| Sejm | Polish diet or parliament | Polish sejm ("diet, assembly") | OED |
| Solidarnosc | Political movement | Polish solidarność ("solidarity") | |
| Spruce | A type coniferous tree | Polish liet. z Prus, "from Prussia" | |
| Starka | Aged strong alcohol | Polish stary, "old" | |
| Zloty | Polish currency | Polish złoty ("golden"), from złoto ("gold") ← Proto-Indo-European ghel | AHD |
| Zubr | European bison living in Poland's primeval forest | Polish żubr, European bison | |
| Żurek | Polish traditional sour type soup | Polish żurek |
The following words are derived from Polish via third languages.
| Word | Meaning | Etymology | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hetman | Historical - Polish, Czech or Cossack military leader | Ukrainian гетьман, het'man ← Polish hetman ← Czech hejtman ← dialectical German hötmann, hetmann (modern Hauptmann) ← Middle High German houbet ("head/high") + man ("man") | AHD |
| Horde | A nomadic tribe; a crowd or swarm | German Horde ← Polish horda ← Ukrainian горда/gorda ← Russian орда (ordá) ← Mongol or North-West Turkic ordï ("camp", "residence") ← Old Turkic ordu ("encampment, residence, court") | AHD |
| Gherkin | A small cucumber | Early Modern Dutch gurkijn (Modern gurkje), diminutive of gurk (+ kijn), aphetic variant of agurk, or possibly via Dutch agurken, plural of agurk, taken to English as singular a gurken, from Dutch agurk, variant of augurk ← German Gurken, plural of Gurk ← Slavic source, i.e. Polish ogórek, partial translation (with diminutive suffix -ek) of Byzantine Greek angourion ("watermelon, gherkin"), from diminutive of Late Greek angouros ("a grape(s)"), meaning "small, unripe fruit," from expressive alteration of Greek aōros ("out of season, unripe") ← Proto Indo-European | AHD, OED |
| Nudnick / Nudnik | A bore; a boring person | variant English noodnik ← Yiddish nudne + diminutive suffix -nik, from nudyen ("to bore") ← Slavic, either Russian нудный/núdnyj("tedious"), Ukrainian нудний/núdnýj ("tedious"), or Polish nudny ("boring") ← Old Church Slavonic ноудити/nuditi or нѫдити/nǫditi ("to compel") ← Proto-Slavic *nuda ← Proto-Indo-European *neuti- (“need”), from *nau- ("death, to be exhausted") | AHD |
| Quartz | A hard white or colorless mineral | German Quarz ← dialectical Old Polish kwardy (modern Polish twardy) | AHD, OED |
| Schav, schaf | A sorrel soup | Yiddish שטשאַוו, shtshav ("sorrel") ← Polish szczaw | AHD |
| Schlub, shlub | A clumsy, stupid or unattractive person | Yiddish zhlob/zhlub, "yokel", "boor" ← Polish żłób ("trough, blockhead") | AHD, MW |
| Schmatte, shmatte | A rag | Yiddish shmate ← Polish szmata | AHD |
| Schmuck, shmuck | A clumsy or stupid person | Yiddish shmok ("penis, fool") ← probably Old Polish smok ("snake/dragon") or German Schmuck ("Jewellery"); in either case, the German word highly influenced the English spelling. | AHD |
| Uhlan, ulan | A cavalryman | German Uhlan ← Polish ułan ← Turkish oğlan("boy, youth" / "servant"), from oǧul ("son") ← Old Turkic | AHD, MW |
| Vampire | Mythical creature | Polish "wampir, from Proto-Polish "wąpierz", it's the most archaic form of the word, entered | English via German "Vampire" in the 18th century.[citation needed][failed verification] |
| Vodka | Alcoholic drink | Polish wódka, diminutive of woda, "water", invented in pagan Poland, word itself was adopted from Russian[2][3] |
| Word | Meaning | Etymology | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alla polacca | Like a polonaise (in musical notation) | Italian alla polacca, "in the Polish manner, Polish style" | MW[permanent dead link] |
| Bialy | A flat, round baked roll or bagel topped with onion flakes | Polish bialy ← "white" short for bialystoker, "of Białystok", a town in northeastern Poland | AHD, MW |
| Cracovian | A mathematical symbol used in cracovian calculus | Polish krakowian ← Cracow, a city in southern Poland, former capital | [citation needed] |
| Cracovienne, krakowiak | A lively Polish folk dance | French (danse) cracovienne, "Kraków (dance)", feminine of cracovien, "of Cracow"; Polish krakowiak, "inhabitant of Kraków" | MW: cracovienne, MW: krakowiak |
| Crackowe, cracowe, crakow | A long, pointed shoe popular in the 14th-15th centuries | Middle English crakowe ← Cracow, the English name of Kraków | MW |
| Czech | Of or related to the Czech Republic or its people | Polish Czech, "a Czech or Bohemian man" ← Czech Čech | AHD |
| Mazurka | One of Polish 5 national dances, or a piece of music for such a dance | from Polish (tańczyć) mazurka, "(to dance) the mazurka", accusative of mazurek ← diminutive of Mazur, "inhabitant of Masovia or Masuria", regions in northeastern Poland | AHD, OED, SWO |
| Polack | A Pole; formerly a neutral term, now considered offensive (see also List of ethnic slurs) | Polish Polak, "Pole" | AHD, OED |
| Polonaise | Ceremonial, stately, marchlike Polish dance, one of the 5 national dances of Poland,
or a piece of music for such a dance |
French (danse) polonaise, "Polish (dance)", feminine of polonais, "Polish" | OED |
| Polonaise | A woman's overdress popular in the 18th century | French (robe à la) polonaise, "Polish (style dress)", feminine of polonais, "Polish" | OED |
| Polonaise | Sprinkled with browned butter and bread crumbs (of food, mostly vegetables) | French sauce a la polonaise, feminine of polonais, "Polish" | OED, MW Archived 2008-07-23 at the Wayback Machine |
| Polonium | Chemical element with atomic number 84 | Medieval Latin Polonia, "Poland" | AHD |
| Polska | A Scandinavian folk dance or a piece of music for such a dance | Swedish polska ← feminine of polsk, "Polish" | MW |
| Poulaine | (The pointed toe of) a crackowe shoe (see above) | Middle French (soulier à la) poulaine, "Polish (style shoe)" ← feminine of poulain, "Polish" | MW |
| Varsoviana, varsovienne | A graceful dance similar to a mazurka | Spanish varsoviana ← feminine of varsoviano; French varsovienne ← feminine of varsovien; both from Medieval Latin varsovianus, "of Warsaw" (Polish: Warszawa), the capital city of Poland | MW |
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