List Of English Words Of Dutch Origin

• literally: the literal meaning of the Dutch word (the actual meaning is similar to the English one)
• originally: the word originally had the meaning specified, but is in Dutch also used with the same meaning as in English

aardvark

from aardvarken

ahoy

from hoi (="hello")

apartheid

from apartheid (via Afrikaans)

berm

from berm

to bluff

from bluffen (="to brag")

boom

from boom (="tree")

boss

from baas

brandy/ brandy wine

from brandewijn (=literally "burn wine")

bundle

from bundel

buoy

from boei (="shackle" or "buoy")

candy

from kandij

coleslaw

from koolsla

cookie

from koekje, Hollandic koekie

cruise

from (door)kruisen (="to cross paths or to cross")

dapper

from dapper (brave)

dollar

from daalder

deck

from dek ="covering" (entered English as "the cover over a ship's hold")

dyke

from dijk

(boat) dock

possibly from Middle Dutch from dok

drill

from Middle Dutch dril, drille

easel

from ezel (=originally "donkey")

etch

from etsen

filibuster

from Spanish filibustero from French filibustier from Dutch vrijbuiter (="pirate")

freebooter

from vrijbuiter

freight

from vracht

frolic

from vrolijk (="cheerful, gay")

furlough

from verlof (="permission (to leave)")

gas

from gas, a neologism from Jan Baptista van Helmont, derived from the Greek Chaos

gin

from jenever

grab

from grijpen (="to seize, to grasp, to snatch")

halibut

from heilbot (=literally "holy flounder")

haul

possibly from halen

hoist

possibly from Middle Dutch hijsen

holster

from holster

iceberg

probably from ijsberg, from Danish isbjerg or Swedish isberg.

keel (kind of boat)

from kiel

keelhaul

from kielhalen (=literally "to haul keel")

knapsack

possibly from knapzak (=literally "bag of food")

landscape

from landschap

leak

possibly from Old Dutch lek

maelstrom

from maalstroom

maid

from meid (="girl")

manikin

from manneken (=literally "little man")

mannequin

from dutch manneken (=literally "little man")

measles

possibly from mazelen

morass

from moeras

polder

from polder

pump

from pomp

quack

shortened from quacksalver, from kwakzalver (= literally "someone who daubs ointments")

roster

from rooster (="schedule, or. grating")

to rove

from roven (="to rob")

rucksack

from rugzak (=literally "back-bag")

Santa Claus

from Sinterklaas (="Saint Nicholas")

scow

from schouw

skate, to skate

from schaats. The noun was originally adopted as in Dutch, with 'skates' being the singular form of the noun; due to the similarity to regular English plurals this form was ultimately used as the plural while 'skate' was derived for use as singular."

sketch

from schets

skipper

from schipper (=literally "shipper")

snack

from snakken (="to gasp", originally "to eat")

sled, sleigh

from Middle Dutch slede, slee

sloop

from sloep

slurp

from slurpen

smack

possibly from smak

smelt

from smelten (="to melt")

smuggle

from smokkelen

tattoo (military term)

from taptoe (=literally "close the tap")

snuff

from snuiftabak (=literally "sniff tobacco")

splinter

from splinter

split

from splijten

spook

from spook (="ghost(ly image)")

stoke

from stoken (="stoke a fire")

stoop (steps)

from stoep (="pavement/sidewalk")

stove

from stoof

waffle

from wafel

wagon

from wagen (="cart, carriage, wagon")

yacht

from jacht (=originally "hunt")

yankee

from Jan Kees, a personal name, originally used mockingly to describe pro-French revolutionary citizens, with allusion to the small keeshond dog, then for "colonials" in New Amsterdam (Note: this is not the only possible etymology for the word yankee. For one thing, the Oxford English Dictionary has quotes with the term from as early as 1765, quite some time before the French Revolution.)

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