calque
/kælk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.30 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A word or phrase in a language formed by word-for-word or morpheme-by-morpheme translation of a word in another language.
Example Sentences
- "David S. Powers, professor of Islamic history and law at Cornell, says he thinks that the word as used today is in the nature of what linguists call a calque, a borrowing from another language in literal translation […]"
- "Those phrases, translated from Spanish, are known as calques. […] The three young Miamians in the video also use “super” as an adverb, one of the calques from Spanish mentioned in Dr. Carter’s research. (“Ay, I’m super bloated.”)"
- "One of the primary benefits of calque is its ability to enhance cross-cultural communication."
- "Terms like "cloud computing" have been calqued into multiple languages, making it easier for global audiences to grasp complex technological concepts. […] For example, translating Shakespeare's works into other languages often involves calquing phrases to maintain the rhythm and metaphorical richness of the original."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: calque, calcare, calcō