What percentage of words in the English language are borrowed from other languages?

Answer 1

Trick question. Answer is 100%. In the time of the Romans there was no English language. Now there is. Was it hiding on a library shelf all that time or is English a combination German, French, Spanish, Celt, etc.? The above is a 'trick' answer. Certain words in English are borrowed in the sense of being very obviously foreign, for example, coup d'état, régime. Neither the question nor the first answer are 'tricks.' I agree, in part, with both answers. The English language we speak, read and write today did not exist 2,000 years ago. Neither did it exist in its present form even 1,000 years ago. English is a people's language. There is no official organization to determine what is correct or incorrect English, such as exists for the French language. There are, of course, generally accepted principles. In my 64 years on this planet, I have noticed a very clear relaxation of many of the formerly unrealistically rigid rules of grammar. During this same period, thousands -- perhaps tens of thousands -- of new words have been added to the dictionary. English is constantly being developed and expanded by the English speaking people. Yes, we import words and phrases from other languages, but that is essentially the history of English.