You speak French every day… without knowing it

How French shaped the English you use today

The English you know wouldn't exist without French. Et oui, nearly 40% of the words you use come from French, more precisely from Old French. Let's take a look together at why, and some interesting examples.

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Why does English contain so many French words?

It all goes back to a key moment in history: the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066! Pardon, Guillaume le Conquérant ! After this victory, French became the language of the court, law, administration, and culture for several centuries. English, spoken by the common people, gradually absorbed thousands of French terms, particularly in the fields of power, gastronomy, fashion, and the military.

Représentation de la bataille d’Hastings dans la tapisserie de Bayeux, qui raconte les exploits de Guillaume le Conquérant.

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Modern English is therefore a blend of Germanic roots and a Romance language, mainly French. What's interesting is that words considered to be Anglicisms in French are actually Old French words that disappeared and later reappeared under English influence.

Let's take a look at several striking examples together.

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1. Budget
The word budget comes from Old French bougette, which meant a small purse or pouch. In English, the meaning shifted to refer to the contents of that pouch—the money available. Today, both languages use budget in nearly the same sense.

2. Toast (toste)
The word toast comes from Old French toste, meaning a slice of grilled bread. In the Middle Ages, this bread was sometimes dipped in wine or beer to bring out its flavor. English borrowed the word and tacked on a second meaning: “to make a toast,” that is, to raise a glass in someone’s honor.

3. Mortgage
This one’s less obvious. Mortgage comes from Old French mort gage, literally meaning “dead pledge.” Under medieval law, it referred to a loan secured by real estate: if the borrower failed to repay, the pledge was forfeited—”dead,” in other words. That meaning has carried over into modern English, where it refers to a home loan.

4. Street
The word street comes from Old French estrate or estrée, itself derived from the Latin strata (”paved road”). In English, it came to mean specifically a road within a town. In modern French, rue replaced estrée, but English held onto the trace.
That said, estrée survives in many French place names, especially in northern France—like Estrées-Saint-Denis—marking the presence of an old Roman road nearby.

5. Flirt
The word flirt also has French roots! It comes from the expression conter fleurette, meaning “to court someone with charming words.” The English simplified it to flirt, which was later reintroduced into French in the 19th century with the meaning we know today: a light, playful kind of romance with no strings attached.

Bonus: Denim
The famous fabric used for jeans comes from the French word denim, short for “Serge de Nîmes.” First exported to England and later to the United States, this sturdy cloth became the world’s symbol of workwear before going on to embody casual style.

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And many more…

This small selection is just the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands of them, and surely some you use every day, like arson, pint, curtain, and so on… In fact, if a word sounds a bit French, there's a good chance it actually is!

And you, do you know any other English words of French origin?

À plus !

Timo

Salut, I’m Timothée.

I write about the French language the way it’s actually lived: through cafés, music, awkward conversations, old expressions, cultural rituals, and all the small things textbooks usually forget.

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