english borrows the most words from what other language?

French is generally considered the single language from which English has borrowed the most words, especially when looking at the total vocabulary over time.

Main point

• Large etymological surveys often estimate that French (including Norman/Anglo-French) accounts for roughly a third to around 40% of English vocabulary items in big dictionaries, edging out Latin as the single largest external source.

• This heavy borrowing is mainly due to the Norman Conquest of 1066 and centuries of French as the language of law, administration, literature, and high culture in England.

Quick context

• Core everyday words (like “hand”, “come”, “go”, “house”) are mostly Germanic, but the number of distinct borrowed words is highest from French (and then Latin), especially in areas such as government, law, art, cuisine, and abstract vocabulary.

• Some estimates based on large dictionaries list approximate proportions like: French 30–40%, Latin around 15–30%, native Old English about a third, with smaller but important contributions from Norse, Dutch, Greek, and many others.

Why people get confused

• Latin is also a huge contributor, particularly to scientific, medical, and legal terminology, so some discussions say “Romance languages” or “French and Latin” together are the major sources, which can blur the headline answer.

• If you look at common everyday words only, Germanic-origin words dominate, but if you count all distinct dictionary entries , French comes out as the single largest foreign source.

Bottom line: For the question “English borrows the most words from what other language?”, the standard answer is French.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.