Seven words English borrowed and never gave back
English doesn't so much borrow words as adopt them. When another language names something perfectly — a very specific boredom, a painter's trick of light — English shrugs, takes the word whole, and never looks back. Seven permanent residents:
a feeling of listless dissatisfaction and boredom arising from a lack of purpose or stimulation
By the fourth rainy day of the holiday, a heavy ennui had settled over the cabin.
calm composure and self-control maintained even in the face of danger or great pressure
The pilot's sangfroid during the engine failure kept the whole cabin from panicking.
a person who strolls city streets at leisure, observing urban life as a detached spectator
He spent his Paris afternoons as a flaneur, no destination beyond the next interesting doorway.
the artistic use of strong contrasts between light and shadow in a picture
Caravaggio's chiaroscuro turns an ordinary tavern scene into something almost theatrical.
pleasure derived from another person's misfortune or embarrassment
He felt a flicker of schadenfreude watching his rival's presentation crash mid-slide.
a studied carelessness that makes a difficult performance look completely effortless
The violinist played the impossible passage with such sprezzatura that the audience assumed it was easy.
a strong, ongoing liking for a particular thing or way of doing something
He had a well-known penchant for showing up exactly ten minutes late to every meeting.
Loanwords are the easiest words to remember, because each one carries a little of its home country with it. Meet one a day and the accent starts to feel like yours.
