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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| List of calques | 1/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_calques | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T08:11:20.996893+00:00 | kb-cron |
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 Chinese: 走狗; pinyin: zǒu gǒu. brainwashing calques Chinese: 洗腦; pinyin: xǐ nǎo – usage via U.S. military during Korean War. lose face calques Chinese: 丟臉; pinyin: diū liǎn Paper tiger calques Chinese: 紙老虎; pinyin: zhǐ lǎohǔ Potsticker calques Chinese: 鍋貼; pinyin: guōtiē Long time no see calques Chinese: 好久不見; pinyin: hǎojiǔ bùjiàn.
=== From French === By heart (or off by heart) probably calques Middle French par cœur Free verse calques vers libre Old Guard calques Vieille Garde (the most senior regiments of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon I) Flea market calques marché aux puces Marriage of convenience calques French mariage de convenance New Wave (artistic period) calques Nouvelle Vague rhinestone calques caillou du Rhin "Rhine pebble" that goes without saying calques cela va sans dire Forget-me-not calques Old French ne m'oubliez mye 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.
=== 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. (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 Antikörper Assault rifle calques Sturmgewehr Ball lightning calques Kugelblitz Beer garden calques Biergarten Concertmaster and concertmeister calque Konzertmeister 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 Heldentenor Intelligence quotient calques Intelligenzquotient Loan translation calques Lehnübersetzung Loanword calques Lehnwort Nostalgia (formed from Greek νόστος "homecoming" plus ἄλγος "pain") calque Heimweh "home sore" Overman and superman (i.e., self-transcending human) calque Übermensch Power politics calques Machtpolitik Rainforest calques Regenwald Standpoint (point of view) calques Standpunkt Superego (formed from Latin super- "over, above" plus ego "I") calques Überich "over-I" Stormtroopers calques Sturmtruppen Subliminal (formed from Latin sub-, "below", plus limen (gen. liminis, "threshold") calques unterschwellig, "beneath the threshold" Thought experiment calques Gedankenexperiment Watershed calques Wasserscheide Worldview calques German Weltanschauung
=== 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 Pesaḥ.
=== From Latin === Commonplace calques locus commūnis (referring to a generally applicable literary passage), which itself is a calque of Greek koinos topos Devil's advocate calques advocātus diabolī, referring to an official appointed to present arguments against a proposed canonization or beatification in the Catholic Church Wisdom tooth calques dēns sapientiae, which in turn calques Arabic aḍrāsu 'lḥikmi, which calques Greek σωΦρονιστῆρες, used by Hippocrates. Milky Way calques via lactea Rest in peace calques requiescat in pace In a nutshell calques in nuce
=== From Spanish === Blue-blood calques sangre azul Fifth column calques quinta columna Killer whale from ballena asesina Moment of truth calques el momento de la verdad, the final sword thrust in a bullfight.
=== From other languages === Deep state calques Turkish derin devlet Gospel calques Greek εὐαγγέλιον (evangelion) 'good news' 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, 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) locus communis calques κοινὸς τόπος, and was later calqued in English as commonplace 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. 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'. similaris 'similar' calques ὁμοιομερής. 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 ===