This is a page of readers' comments on the list of English words derived from Arabic. To add your own comments or suggestions click here. If possible, please explain the derivation, and note that we are looking for Arabic words that have transferred into English (not the other way round).

From: Frederick Fowler

The word "influenza" is originally Italian and originated, as far as I can tell, from the present participle of the Latin verb "influo". It is not Arabic in origin at all. Its use to designate a disease, may, however, be from the Arabic astrologers and alchemists of the Middle Ages.

From: anonymous

Ghoul was derived from the Arabic 'ghool'. See the entry in Encyclopedia Britannica 

From: Joachim Martillo

• Mulatto from muwalid.

• Wizard is from wis, wys but is possibly influenced by wazir.

• Azimuth from the plural of as-samt.

From: Elaine Mullen

Thank you for this wonderful website! Years ago I collected a couple of hundred words from my Arabic dictionary that I thought were probably of Arabic/Semitic origin, though English scholars have other, sometimes unlikely explanations. Now that we know certainly that migrations of farmers from the Middle East into Europe took place during the Neolithic period, it is probable that some Semitic roots went along with them.

Examples are:

From: Radwan K Dabaja

Cornea - one of the major parts in the eye. Arabic: al-qarniya (qarn = "horn")

From: Aida714@aol.com

What about the word MASCARA? 

From: Ibrahim Al-Attab, Yemen

• "Alphabet" comes from the semitic letters alif (first letter) + ba = beit. Beit was the second pictographic letter in the Phoenician.

• Alhambra: "the red one"

• Taj Mahal: "crown place"

• Canal = Arabic qanawat

• Chemise (French) = qamees (Arabic)

• Naphtha, naphthalene = naft (mentioned in the Qur'an, meaning oil for burning)

From: S. Jones, Manchester

The Oxford English Dictionary says that "massacre" is derived from Old French and adds: "The origin of the OF word is unknown; Diez suggested derivation from a Teutonic source..."

I would like to suggest that it is a corruption of the Arabic word, "majzara", which also means "massacre". Given the difficulty of pronouncing the "jz" sound, it is easy to see how this might have been corrupted to "ss". It seems unlikely that the Arabs borrowed their word from Europe because it is a standard Arabic noun-form, derived from a normal triliteral root, "jazara" (meaning to slaughter or butcher).

Since the modern Spanish word ("masacre") is also very similar, the most likely method of transfer would seem to be the Islamic conquest of Spain and southern France which was eventually halted at a battle in the region of Tours and Poitiers in 732 AD. This may be impossible to prove but it strikes me as no less plausible than the Teutonic theory.

From: sphere@emirates.net.ae

souk/souq; bazaar (both mean "market" in Arabic and are used in English as well)