List of English words of Czech origin
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2012) |
Wiktionary has a category on English terms derived from Czech.
This is a list of words coming to
Bohemisms
.
- Absurdistan (in Czech Absurdistán) – word created by Eastern Bloc dissidents, passed into English mainly through works of Václav Havel.
- diacritical mark, literally "little hook", e.g. č is letter c having háček. Also known as "caron".
- Hussitecatapult; houf meaning crowd or band
- kolache– from koláč or koláček.
- koczwarism – Sexual asphyxiophilia in medical slang; after František Kočvara
- pistol – from píšťala, a 15th-century Hussite firearm (alternative sources have been suggested, see the article for details)
- polka – from Polák or polský, a Czech dance named in remembrance of the November Uprising of 1830; or from Půlka, in English half because of its tempo
- pram – from Czech prám, a flatbottomed boat, through Dutch praam and Middle Dutch praem [1]
- R.U.R.from the 1920s.
- Semtex – a plastic explosive named after Semtín, part of the city of Pardubice, Czech Republic, location of its manufacturer.
Sometimes it is mistakenly claimed hocus-pocus has Czech origin since pokus means trial (attempt) or experiment.
References
See also
- Lists of English words of international origin