Entlehnten

Entlehnten is the participial form of the German verb entlehnen, meaning borrowed from another language. In linguistic usage, entlehnten Wörter are loanwords that have been adopted into German and integrated to varying degrees. The related noun is Entlehnung, describing the process of borrowing, while entlehnen refers to the act itself. In practice, entlehnten words are typically identified by their foreign origin and by their adaptation to German phonology, orthography, and morphology.

Loanwords arise through long-standing language contact, trade, science, and cultural exchange. They may be direct loans, retaining much of their source form, or they may undergo phonetic adaptation and semantic shifts. Some entlehnten forms are fully integrated and inflect like native words; others remain more recognizably foreign.

Historically, German has borrowed from Latin and French in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, and from English in the modern era. Calques—literal translations of phrases—are a related phenomenon but distinct from entlehnung. In contemporary usage, English-origin entlehnten Wörter such as Computer or Team are common, as are French-origin words like Restaurant or Rendezvous; Latin-derived terms such as Universität also form part of the inherited vocabulary.

The study of entlehnten Wörter examines how they adapt in pronunciation, spelling, gender, and plural formation, as well as their frequency, semantic shift, and social context. See also Lehnwort, Entlehnung, and Lehnübersetzung.