🇳🇱 Dutch · C2 · Linguistics & Language History

Loanwords & neologisms

5 min read · French and English borrowings · purist vs open approach · modern Dutch neologisms

Vocabulary

het leenwoordthe loanword
het neologismethe neologism
de verbasteringthe corruption/bastardization
het anglicismethe anglicism
het gallicismethe gallicism (French loan)
de vernederlandsingthe dutchification
het jargonthe jargon
de vaktermthe technical term
het modewoordthe buzzword/trendy word
de woordvormingword formation
het samenstellend woordthe compound word
de afkortingthe abbreviation

Loanwords & Neologisms

Dutch has always been a borrowing language, absorbing words from every culture it contacted. At C2 level, understanding the layers of borrowing reveals Dutch history itself.

French loans dominate formal and culinary Dutch: restaurant, bureau, etage (floor), trottoir (sidewalk). Many have been so deeply absorbed they feel native: paraplu (umbrella, from parapluie), cadeau (gift).

English loans have accelerated dramatically: computer, management, deadline. The Dutch Language Union (Taalunie) sometimes proposes alternatives: beeldscherm for screen, vergadering for meeting. The debate between purists and pragmatists continues.

Colonial-era loans from Malay include amok (amok), orang-oetan (orangutan), bamboe (bamboo). From Indonesian: batik, gamelan. These words often entered English through Dutch.

Dutch itself exported words: English cookie (from koekje), boss (from baas), landscape (from landschap), and yacht (from jacht).

Neologisms are constantly created through Dutch's productive compound system. Swaffelen (to swing one's genitals against something) won "Word of the Year" in 2008. Vergeethoek (forget corner — where lost items end up) shows creative compounding.

The Dikke Van Dale dictionary adds hundreds of new entries each edition, documenting this ever-evolving vocabulary.

Expressions

Dat is een anglicismeThat is an anglicism
Het woord is vernederlandstThe word has been dutchified
Dat staat niet in de Van DaleThat's not in the Van Dale (dictionary)
Een verbastering van het Franse woordA corruption of the French word
Het is een modewoord dat snel verdwijntIt's a buzzword that will vanish quickly
De Taalunie adviseert om... te gebruikenThe Language Union advises to use...

Common mistakes

~~Ik heb het gedownloaded~~
Ik heb het gedownload
Actually accepted! Dutch adapted English verbs: downloaden → gedownload
~~Hij heeft de file gesaved.~~
Hij heeft het bestand gesaved.
Bestand is the Dutch word for a computer file; file overwhelmingly means traffic jam in Dutch.
~~De manager van de team~~
De manager van het team
Team is a het-word in Dutch: het team, not de team
~~Dat is een leen woord~~
Dat is een leenwoord
Leenwoord (loanword) is written as one compound word
~~Het is verouderde Nederlands~~
Het is verouderd Nederlands
After "zijn", a predicative adjective stays uninflected: verouderd, no -e ending!

Quick quiz

Question 1 of 5

How do you say “the jargon” in Dutch?

This is the mini version

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