List of English words of Dutch origin - Definition and Overview

This is a list of words of Dutch language origins can be found in the following English language cognates. However, note that this list does also include some words of which the etymology is uncertain, and that some may have been derived from Low Saxon equivalents instead or as well.

• literally: the literal meaning of the Dutch word (the actual meaning is similar to the English one)
• originally: the word originally had the meaning specified, but is in Dutch also used with the same meaning as in English

aardvark 

from aardvarken

ahoy 

from hoi (="hello")

apartheid 

from apartheid (via Afrikaans)

berm 

from berm

to bluff 

from bluffen (="to brag")

boom 

from boom (="tree")

boss 

from baas

brandy/ brandy wine 

from brandewijn (=literally "burn wine")

bundle 

from Old Dutch bondel

buoy 

from boei (="shackle" or "buoy")

candy 

from kandij

coleslaw 

from koolsla

cookie 

from koekje

cruise 

from (door)kruisen (="to cross paths or to cross")

dollar 

from daalder

deck 

from dek ="covering" (entered English as "the cover over a ship's hold")

dyke 

from dijk

(boat) dock 

possibly from Middle Dutch from dok

drill 

from Middle Dutch dril, drille

easel 

from ezel (=originally "donkey")

etch 

from etsen

filibuster 

from Spanish filibustero from French filibustier from Dutch vrijbuiter (="pirate")

freebooter 

from vrijbuiter

freight 

from vracht

frolic 

from vrolijk (="cheerful, gay")

furlough 

from verlof (="permission (to leave)")

gas 

from gas, a neologism from Christiaan Huygens, derived from the Greek Chaos

gin 

from jenever

grab 

from grijpen (="to seize, to grasp, to snatch")

halibut 

from heilbot (=literally "holy flounder")

haul 

possibly from halen

hoist 

possibly from Middle Dutch hijsen

holster 

from holster

Hottentot 

from Hottentot

iceberg 

probably from ijsberg, from Danish isbjerg or Swedish isberg.

keel (kind of boat) 

from kiel

keelhaul 

from kielhalen (=literally "to haul keel")

knapsack 

possibly from knapzak (=literally "bag of food")

landscape 

from landschap

leak 

possibly from Old Dutch lek

lottery 

from Middle French loterie, possibly from Dutch loterij

maelstrom 

from maalstroom

maid 

from meid (="girl")

manikin 

from manneken (=literally "little man")

mannequin 

from dutch manneken (=literally "little man")

measles 

possibly from mazelen

morass 

from moeras

polder 

from polder

pump 

from pomp

quack 

shortened from quacksalver, from kwakzalver (= literally "someone who daubs ointments")

roster 

from rooster (="schedule, or. grating")

to rove 

from roven (="to rob")

rucksack 

from rugzak (=literally "back-bag")

Santa Claus 

from Sinterklaas (="Saint Nicholas")

scow 

from schouw

skate, to skate 

from schaats. The noun was originally adopted as in Dutch, with 'skates' being the singular form of the noun; due to the similarity to regular English plurals this form was ultimately used as the plural while 'skate' was derived for use as singular."

sketch 

from schets

skipper 

from schipper (=literally "shipper")

snack 

from snakken (="to gasp", originally "to eat")

sled, sleigh 

from Middle Dutch slede, slee

sloop 

from sloep

slurp 

from slurpen

smack 

possibly from smak

smelt 

from smelten (="to melt")

smuggle 

from smokkelen

tattoo (military term) 

from taptoe (=literally "close the tap")

snuff 

from snuiftabak (=literally "sniff tobacco")

splinter 

from splinter

split 

from splijten

spook 

from spook (="ghost(ly image)")

stoke 

from stoken (="stoke a fire")

stoop (steps) 

from stoep (="pavement/sidewalk")

stove 

from stoof

waffle 

from wafel

wagon 

from wagen (="cart, carriage, wagon")

yacht 

from jacht (=originally "hunt")

yankee 

from Jan Kees, a personal name, originally used mockingly to describe pro-French revolutionary citizens, with allusion to the small keeshond dog, then for "colonials" in New Amsterdam (Note: this is not the only possible etymology for the word yankee. For one thing, the Oxford English Dictionary has quotes with the term from as early as 1765, quite some time before the French Revolution.)

See also: Lists of English words of international origin