Some problems of borrowing in the Russian language

guerrilla (In Spanish, the word refers to a small fighting force. A guerrilla fighter is a guerrillero.)

hammock (from jamaca, a Caribbean Spanish word)

habanero (a type of pepper; in Spanish, the word refers to something from Havana)

hacienda (in Spanish, the initial h is silent)

huarache (type of sandal)

hurricane (from huracán, originally an indigenous Caribbean word)

hoosegow (slang term for a jail comes from Spanish juzgado, participle of juzgar, "to judge")

iguana (originally from Arawak and Carib iwana)

incomunicado

jaguar (from Spanish and Portuguese, originally from Guarani yaguar)

jalapeño

jerky (the word for dried meet comes from charqui, which in turn came from the Quechua ch'arki)

jicama (originally from Nahuatl)

key (the word for a small island comes from the Spanish cayo, possibly of Caribbean origin)

lariat (from la reata, "the lasso")

lasso (from lazo)

llama (originally from Quechua) 

machete

machismo,

macho (macho usually means simply "male" in Spanish)

maize (from maíz, originally from Arawak mahíz)

manatee (from manatí, originally from Carib)

mano a mano (literally, "hand to hand")

margarita (from a woman's name)

matador (literally, "killer")

marijuana (usually mariguana or marihuana in Spanish)

mesa (In Spanish it means "table," but it also can mean "tableland," the English meaning.)

margarita (a woman's name meaning "daisy")

mariachi

menudo (Mexican food)

mesquite (tree name originally from Nahuatl mizquitl

mestizo

mole (Unfortunately, the name for this delightful chocolate-chili dish is sometimes misspelled as "molé" in English in an attempt to prevent mispronunciation.)

mosquito

mulatto (from mulato)

mustang (from mestengo, "stray")

nacho

nada

negro (comes from either the Spanish or Portuguese word for the color black)

nopal (type of cactus, from Nahuatl nohpalli)

ocelot (originally Nahuatl oceletl; the word was adopted into Spanish and then French before becoming an English word)

olé (in Spanish, the exclamation can be used in places other than bullfights)

oregano (from orégano)

paella (a savory Spanish rice dish)

palomino (originally meant a white dove in Spanish)

papaya (originally Arawak)

patio (In Spanish, the word most often refers to a courtyard.)

peccadillo (from pecadillo, diminutive of pecado, "sin")

peso (Although in Spanish a peso is also a monetary unit, it more generally means a weight.)

peyote (originally Nahuatl peyotl)

picaresque (from picaresco)

pickaninny (offensive term, from pequeño, "small")

pimento (Spanish pimiento)

pinole (a meal made of grain and beans; originally Nahuatl pinolli)

pinta (tropical skin disease)

pinto (Spanish for "spotted" or "painted")

piñata

piña colada (literally meaning "strained pineapple")

piñon (type of pine tree, sometimes spelled "pinyon")

plantain (from plátano or plántano)

plaza

poncho (Spanish adopted the word from Araucanian, an indigenous South American language)

potato (from batata, a word of Caribbean origin)

pronto (from an adjective or adverb meaning "quick" or "quickly"

pueblo (in Spanish, the word can mean simply "people")

punctilio (from puntillo, "little point," or possibly from Italian puntiglio)

puma (originally from Quechua)

quadroon (from cuaterón)

quesadilla

quirt (type of riding whip, comes from Spanish cuarta)

ranch (Rancho often means "ranch" in Mexican Spanish, but it can also mean a settlement, camp or meal rations.)

reefer (drug slang, possibly from Mexican Spanish grifa, "marijuana")

remuda (regionalism for a relay of horses)

renegade (from renegado)

rodeo

rumba (from rumbo, originally referring to the course of a ship and, by extension, the revelry aboard)

salsa (In Spanish, almost any kind of a sauce or gravy can be referred to as salsa.)

sarsaparilla (from zarza, "bramble," and parilla, "small vine")

sassafras (from sasafrás)

savanna (from obsolete Spanish çavana, originally Taino zabana, "grassland")

savvy (from sabe, a form of the verb saber, "to know")

serape (Mexican blanket)

serrano (type of pepper)

shack (possibly from Mexican Spanish jacal, from the Nahuatl xcalli, "adobe hut")

siesta

silo

sombrero (In Spanish, the word, which is derived from sombra, "shade," can mean almost any kind of hat, not just the traditional broad-rimmed Mexican hat.)

spaniel (ultimately from hispania, the same root that gave us the words "Spain" and español)

stampede (from estampida)

stevedore (from estibador, one who stows or packs things)

stockade (from a French derivation of the Spanish estacada, "fence" or "stockade")

tobacco (from tabaco, a word possibly of Caribbean origin)

taco (In Spanish, a taco can refer to a stopper, plug or wad. In other words, a taco originally meant a wad of food. Indeed, in Mexico, the variety of tacos is almost endless, far more varied than the beef, lettuce and cheese combination of U.S.-style fast food.)

tamale (The Spanish singular for this Mexican dish is tamal. The English comes from an erroneous backformation of the Spanish plural, tamales.)

tamarillo (type of tree, derived from tomatillo, a small tomato)

tango

tequila (named after a Mexican town of the same name)

tejano (type of music)

tomatillo

tomato (from tomate, derived from Nahuatl tomatl)

toreador

tornado (from tronada, thunderstorm)

tortilla (in Spanish, an omelet often is a tortilla)

tuna (from atún)

vamoose (from vamos, a form of "to go")

vanilla (from vainilla)

vaquero (English regionalism for a cowboy)

vicuña (animal similar to a llama, from Quechua wikuña)

vigilante (from adjective for "vigilant")

vinegarroon (from vinagrón)

wrangler (some sources say word is derived from Mexican Spanish caballerango, one who grooms horses, while other sources say the word comes from German)

yucca (from yuca, originally a Caribbean word)

zapateado (a type of dance emphasizing movement of the heels) 

The English language is a thief. What we call English isn’t really English at all. Instead, it’s a collection of borrowings from other languages. Latin is the main one, but there’s also a good bit of French and a healthy serving of Spanish. There are thousands of Spanish loan words in English – some claim as many as 10,000 – and they all entered the language from three main sources. 

Trade in the Caribbean region brought a number of local Spanish words into the language:

barbecue

cannibal

llama

hammock

hurricane

potato

tobacco

yucca 

Many words were brought into English by cowboys working in the Southwest USA, such as:

bronco

buckaroo (from vaquero, Spanish for cowboy)

desperado

rodeo

vigilante 

Then there are several words for food and drink that you just can’t describe in English:

avocado

banana

burrito

chili

dorado

guacamole

maize

margarita

paella

papaya

pimento

tequila

tortilla

vanilla

yam 

And then there are others, where we know the Spanish words, but we’re just not sure exactly how they got here.

adobe

albino

alcove

alfalfa

algebra

alligator (from the Spanish for lizard – el lagarto)

armadillo

barracuda

cafeteria

canyon

chihuahua

cigar/cigarette

cockroach

embargo

guerilla

guitar

iguana

incommunicado

jaguar

macho

mosquito

renegade

savvy

siesta

tornado 

This is just a selection of the Spanish loan words we use in English. Have you got any favorite ones to add to the list? 

Renegade, mosquito, mustang, booby—English uses many words with Spanish origins. In fact, some scholars say Spanish has contributed 10,000 words to English.  

A Linguistic Fiesta 

Many adopted Spanish words are food terms, such as tamale, taco, salsa, cilantro, guacamole, enchilada, oregano, and burrito. They are usually used in their original Spanish forms. Others, such as tuna, which comes from the Spanish atún, are variations of the original.

RELATED LINKS

Types of Spanish Explained 

Columbus's Unknown Legacy 

Spain 

Latin America 

Languages in the United States 
 
 

Other food words are of American Indian origin, but came into English via Spanish. Tomato, for instance, is derived from the Spanish tomate, a corruption of the Nahuatl word tomatl. Chocolate comes from the Nahuatl word xocolatl. Potato comes from papa, meaning white potato in the Inca language, Quechua; and batata, sweet potato in the Taino Indian language of the Caribbean. Banana, on the other hand, entered Spanish from the West African languages of Wolof, Mandingo, and Fulani.  

Animal Names 

A number of animal words went directly from Indian languages into Spanish and then English. Puma originated in Quechua, while jaguar comes from yaguar, a word of the Guarani who live in what is now Paraguay, and iguana is a modification of iwana, used by the Arawak and Carib of the West Indies.  

Riding Through the Desert 

When Americans began exploring the Southwest in the early 19th century they encountered an established Mexican culture, which has provided English with many everyday words. Some involve horseback riding, including rodeo, lasso, and lariat, since the horse was a key part of frontier life for both Mexicans and Americans.  

Ranch, a common English word today, hails from the Mexican Spanish rancho, meaning ranch, settlement, or meat ration. 

Sailing the Spanish Main 

Hurricane, tobacco, and hammock came to English from the Caribbean. In the 17th and 18th centuries American and English traders plied the ports of the West Indies and South America. Weather often required extended stays in these ports, acquainting the English speakers with Spanish culture.  

In addition, buccaneers in search of treasure sailed "the Spanish Main," the South American mainland from the Orinoco River in present-day Venezuela to Panama. It is likely they also acquired many Spanish words now used in English. 

Common Words with Spanish Origins 

Alligator: el lagarto, the lizard

Booby: bobo, silly or selfish, from the Latin for stammering, balbus

Bronco: meaning wild or rough

Cafeteria: cafetería, a coffee shop

Cargo: cargar, to load

Cigar, Cigarette: cigarro

Comrade: camarada, old Spanish for barracks company or roommate

Guerrilla: a small raiding party or fighting force

Hoosegow: from juzgado, a tribunal or courtroom, past participle of juzgar, to judge

Mustang: mestengo or mesteño, a stray animal

Patio: courtyard in Spanish

Peccadillo: a form of pecado, to sin

Renegade: renegado, deserter or outlaw

Savvy: saber, to know

Tornado: tornar, to turn, tronada, thunderstorm

Vamoose: vamos, let's go  

Words with the same meaning in both languages include aficionado, armada, barracuda, mosquito, tobacco, and vanilla.