Borrowing in English (Fromkin and Rodman 1988):

3/5 of the 20,000 words in common use

2/7 of the 500 most frequently used words

Cf. Actual frequency of appearance of native words: 80%

Foreign origin of English words: Guess what foriengn langauge the following English words came from

• drama, comedy, tragedy, scene, botany, physics, zoology, atomic
• bonus, scientific, rape, exit, alumnus, quorum orthograhy, describe
• scatter, scare, scrape, skirt, skin, they, their, them
• bin, flannel, clan, slogan, whisky
• buoy, frieght, leak, pump, yacht
• quarts, cobalt, sauerkraut, beer
• opera, piano, virutoso, balcony, mezzanine
• alcohol, algebra, cipher, zero
• barbeque, cockroach, guitar, ranch
• schmuck, schmo, schlemiel, bagel

Place names in English:

• Brooklyn, Harlem
• Rio Grande, Colorado, Sierra Nevada, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Jose
• Connecticut, Ohio, Mississippi, Michigan, Massachusettes, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Oregon, Texas
  Chicago, Miwaukee, Erie, Omaha, Chattanooga, Appalachians