30 English Words Borrowed from Dutch

30 English Words Borrowed from Dutch 30 English Words Borrowed from Dutch 30 English Words Borrowed from Dutch By Mark Nichol During much of the 1600s, the Netherlands was a world power, especially at sea, and this influence contributed to the English language in the form of borrowings from Dutch into English of various nautically and aquatically themed words. Here’s a list of many of these terms (a few of which were adopted from, or may derive from cognates in, other languages) and their definitions and their Dutch origins. 1. avast (â€Å"stop†): from hou vast, meaning â€Å"hold fast† 2. bow (â€Å"front of a ship†): from boeg (or from Old German or Old Norse) 3. brackish (â€Å"salty†): from brac (or a Low German cognate), meaning â€Å"salty† 4. buoy (â€Å"marker† or, as a verb, â€Å"mark with a buoy† or â€Å"keep afloat†): from buoy, ultimately from the Latin word boia, meaning â€Å"shackle† 5. caboose (â€Å"the last car on a freight train, used for the accommodation for the train’s crew†): from kabuis or kombuis, meaning â€Å"galley,† or â€Å"ship’s kitchen† 6. commodore (â€Å"senior captain† or â€Å"naval officer above a captain in rank†): probably from kommandeur, ultimately from the Old French word comandeor, meaning â€Å"commander† 7. cruiser (â€Å"warship larger than a destroyer but smaller than a battleship,† or â€Å"pleasure motorboat†): from kruisen (related to kruis, meaning â€Å"cross†), meaning â€Å"sail across or go through† 8. deck (â€Å"any of various floors of a ship†): from dek, meaning â€Å"covering† 9. dock (â€Å"mooring structure for vessels† or, as a verb â€Å"tie up at a dock†): from docke, meaning â€Å"pier† 10. dredge (â€Å"riverbed or seabed scoop† or, as a verb, â€Å"drag† or â€Å"scoop†): perhaps based on dregghe, meaning â€Å"dragnet† 11. freebooter (â€Å"pirate†): from vrijbuiter, meaning â€Å"robber†; the second half of the word is related to booty, also derived from Dutch 12. freight (â€Å"shipped goods† or, as a verb, â€Å"ship goods†): from a word variously spelled fraght, vracht, and vrecht and meaning â€Å"water transport†; the Dutch word is also the source of fraught, meaning â€Å"heavy† or â€Å"weighed down† 13. filibuster (â€Å"obstructive act† or, as a verb, â€Å"obstruct†): from vrijbuiter by way of the Spanish word filibuster (see freebooter above), which in turn comes from the French word flibustier 14. hoist (â€Å"lift† as a noun or a verb): from hijsen 15. jib (â€Å"spar†): from gijben, meaning â€Å"boom† 16. keel (â€Å"spine or structure projecting from a hull†): from kiel 17. keelhaul (â€Å"punish by dragging over the keel†): from kielhalen, meaning â€Å"keel hauling† 18. kill (â€Å"riverbed†): from kil 19. maelstrom (â€Å"whirlpool† or, by extension, â€Å"confused situation†): from maalstroom, meaning â€Å"grinding current† or â€Å"strong current† (the second element of the word is cognate with stream); possibly based on an Old Norse word 20. morass (â€Å"boggy or muddy ground† or, by extension, â€Å"complicated or confused situation†): from marasch, meaning â€Å"swamp,† partly based on the Old French word marais, meaning â€Å"marsh† 21. plug (â€Å"stopper† or, as a verb, â€Å"stop (a hole)†): from plugge, meaning â€Å"stopper† 22. school (â€Å"large group of fish,† unrelated to the term for an educational institution): from schole 23. scow (â€Å"small, wide sailboat† or â€Å"flat-bottomed boat†): from schouw 24. shoal (â€Å"large group of fish†; unrelated to the same word meaning â€Å"area of shallow water†): cognate with schole 25. skipper (â€Å"captain of a ship†): from schipper, meaning â€Å"someone who ships† 26. sloop (â€Å"sailboat,† either a small modern boat or a specific type of warship): from sloep, either ultimately from slupen, meaning â€Å"to glide,† or from the Old French term chalupe 27. smack (â€Å"small sailboat†): possibly from smak, meaning â€Å"sailboat,† perhaps from the sound made by flapping sails 28. smuggler (â€Å"illegal trader†): smokkelen or the Low German word smukkelen, meaning â€Å"transport (goods) illegally†) 29. stockfish (â€Å"cod or similar fish prepared by drying†): from stokvis, meaning â€Å"stick fish† 30. yacht (â€Å"small, light pirate-hunting naval vessel† or â€Å"pleasure motorboat or sailboat†): from jacht, meaning â€Å"hunt† and short for jachtschip Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Words with More Than One SpellingItalicizing Foreign WordsForming the Comparative of One-syllable Adjectives

Guide and Tips to Write a Definition Essay

Guide and Tips to Write a Definition Essay A Complete Guide on How to Write a Definition Essay What can be better for a student than writing tons of essays every week? Aren’t you one of those writing addicts? Then you may find the academic process rather boring and difficult. With so many academic assignments. Many students simply fail to complete the course due to a lack of writing skills. However, becoming an advanced writer is easier than it may seem. Our complete essay-writing guide will put an ease on the writing process as well as make your college life simpler. Tips on writing a definition essay Our complete guide includes a systematic instruction on how to write a definition essay. All you need is to follow each step as well as add some creative work to make your paper look outstanding. You will certainly get the A grade effortlessly. Describe your idea Choose a word that will perfectly describe your concept or paper idea. This word is supposed to become a fundamental issue. It will let you broaden the view of the topic itself. â€Å"Love†, â€Å"Hate†, â€Å"Truth† – look for the definition in the dictionary and pick a proper word for your essay. Avoid complicated objects Avoiding complicated objects and specific things is the best way to stay away from writing troubles. Never choose too mundane objects that are hard to define. Avoid too simple words like â€Å"table† or â€Å"chair. They will narrow down the process of creative thinking. Select a term ft. several definitions A good idea is to choose a word featuring multiple definitions and meanings. However, make sure that you do know the word and have a clear understanding of all the available meanings. It will provide more opportunities to write about different aspects of the word. Look the word up in a dictionary The first step is to find the official definition of a chosen word. Look it up in a dictionary. Memorize it and create a structure for the definition to reveal possible writing paths. The idea here is to find out as much about the word origin as you can. Use all available sources ranging from encyclopedias, original dictionaries, online resources, etc. Ask your friends, relatives, and teachers about the word. Summarize the information Get all the facts you know about one place and summarize the info. The main idea at this stage is to create your own vision of the word as well as your own definition. How to build an outline for the definition essay? Building an outline for the definition essay is the same as working out a clear plan. It should contain all vital aspects of the major work arranged in a reader-friendly manner. The main mission here is to establish a comprehensive coherence between each paragraph. The draft should include the following points: Introduction – introduce the main idea of your paper. Let readers know what you are going to speak about; Thesis Statement – make a strong statement describing the word or term you are going to define. Avoid writing too much in a thesis statement. Make it brief but clear; Body Paragraph – body paragraphs come as the major part of your paper. Make sure they are well organized and contain sections that are logically connected; Conclusion – right a short summary of your paper highlighting the core ideas related to the word. You need to make the ending of your paper interesting and impressive. Include some arguments and points to hammer the key ideas of the essay. It will certainly make an impact resulting in A grade for your work.