A is for…
Avocado, which comes from Nahuatl, a language spoken by the Aztecs. Their name for it, ahuacatl, also meant ''testicle".
B is for…
Bonsai. Although we think the tree-cultivating art is Japanese, it originated in China.
C is for…
Coleslaw. Supposedly eaten in ancient Rome, it comes from the Dutch kool-salade (''cabbage salad").
D is for…
Dachshund, a compound of the German Dachs (''badger") and Hund (''dog"). Originally the breed was known in Germany as Dachs Krieger, or ''badger warrior".
E is for…
Enthusiasm. From the Greek entheos, which means ''to be within energy", suggesting being spiritually ''possessed".
F is for…
Flamenco, from the Spanish name for a Fleming (i.e. someone from Flanders).
G is for…
Goulash, an invention by Hungarian herdsmen whose name derives from gulyas.
H is for…
Hotchpotch, used in Norman legal jargon to denote property collected and then divided.
I is for…
Intelligentsia, a collective term for the intellectual class which derives from Latin but came to us from Russian.
J is for…
Juggernaut, Sanskrit for a giant carriage used to transport an image of the god Krishna.
K is for…
Kangaroo, from gangurru, the large black male roo in the Guugu Yimidhirr language.
L is for…
Lilac, which comes from the Persian nilak, meaning ''of a bluish shade".
M is for…
Mandarin. The name of the fruit feels as though it ought to be Chinese, but may well have come from Swedish.
N is for…
Namby-pamby. Nickname of the 18th-century poet Ambrose Phillips, coined by the satirist Henry Careybecause of his sentimental verses
O is for…
Onslaught, from the Dutch aanslag - related to a word in Old High German for a shower.
P is for…
Penguin, a compound of two Welsh words, pen and gwyn, which mean ''head" and ''white" - even though penguins have black heads. It is likely that 'penguin' was at one time the name of similar, now extinct bird which had a white patch near its bill.
Q is for…
Quack can be traced to the Dutch kwaksalver, literally someone who hawked ointments.
R is for…
Regatta, from Venetian dialect, it originally signified any kind of contest.
S is for…
Sabotage. Supposed to derive from the tendency of striking workers to damage machinery by throwing shoes into it - sabot being an old French word for a wooden shoe.
T is for…
Tattoo, Captain Cook saw Polynesian islanders marking their skin with dark pigment. Long before that the word signified a signal or drumbeat, a Dutch expression for 'Close off the tap', used to recall tippling soldiers.
U is for…
Umbrella, appeared in English as early as 1609 (in a letter by John Donne). In the middle of the 18th century the device was adopted by the philanthropist Jonas Hanway as a protection against the London rain.
V is for…
Vanilla, ''little sheath" in Spanish.
W is for…
Walnut, a modern rendering of the Old English walhnutu ('foreign nut'), so known because it grew mainly in Italy.
X is for…
Xebec, a little vessel with three masts, from the Arabic shabbak, a small warship.
Y is for…
Yogurt, a mispronunciation of a Turkish word.
Z is for…
Zero, whose immediate source is French or Italian, but its origins are in Arabic - and before that in the Sanskrit word sunya, which meant both ''nothing" and ''desert".
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