From angst to zydeco, the ultimate guide to foreign terms and phrases
English is not only the most widely spoken language in the world, it is also the most dynamic. And one of the chief sources of its enormous vitality is the many foreign words and phrases with which it is continually enriched. The ultimate guide for writers, editors, and word-lovers of every ilk, The Browser's Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases is an A-to-Z compendium of 2, 000 loan-words currently used in English speech and writing. It includes words from around the world, for instance: rapprochement, macho, and imbroglio (France, Spain, and Italy); gestalt and zeitgeist (Germany); gulag and apparatchik (Russia); shibboleth (Hebrew); purdah and bungalow (Hindi); loofah (Arabic); netsuke (Japan); and thousands more. Each entry provides a guide to pronunciation, literal and idiomatic definitions, and some offer short examples of how the word is used by contemporary speakers and authors.
Mary Varchaver (Hastings, NY) is a freelance writer, researcher, and editor. She is also the coauthor, along with Frank Ledlie Moore of The Dictionary of the Performing Arts.