Borrowed Words

There's more French in English than you might think!

Apr.7

（双击或划选你想要翻译的单词或词组即可看到注解）

Do you ever wonder why English has one word for some animals and a different one for their meat? English uses pig and pork, cow and beef, and sheep and mutton. Why is that? To find out, you have to go back to 1066. In that year, the Norman French invaded England and put a French king on the English throne The French not only changed the government but they also changed the language. French became the language of the upper classes of society. And it remained that way for 300 years. Only these high society people could afford to eat meat. As a result, French words like porc (pork) and beouf (beef) came into the English language. However, poor English farmers raised the animals. So, the English language retained the words pig and cow from the native Anglo-Saxon.

The Norman French added about 10,000 French words to the English language. Seventy-five percent of them are still in use today.

Word Bank:

invade(v)入侵；侵略
The two countries are fighting because one invaded the other.

remain(v)维持；保持不变
George remained the captain of the soccer team for two years.

afford(v)负担得起
I can't afford to buy a car. I don't have enough money.

retain(v)保留，保有
The company changed its manager, but it retained all its other employees.

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