calque

American  

[kalk] / kælk /

noun

1. a loan translation, especially one resulting from bilingual interference in which the internal structure of a borrowed word or phrase is maintained but its morphemes are replaced by those of the native language, as German halbinsel for peninsula.

2. loanshift.

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verb (used with object)

calqued, calquing

1. to form (a word or phrase) through the process of loan translation.

calque British  

/ kælk /

noun

1. another word for loan translation

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verb

1. (tr) another word for calk 3

Etymology

Origin of calque

1655–65; < French, noun derivative of calquer to copy, base on < Italian calcare to trace over, tread < Latin: to trample

Explanation

A calque is a word-for-word translation from one language to another. When you take a phrase in French, for example, and translate each word literally into English, that's a calque. There are many examples in English of common phrases that are calques, translated from other languages. An "Adam's apple," for example, is a calque of the French pomme d'Adam, and "beer garden" is a calque of the German Biergarten. In both cases, the English phrases came from a direct, literal translation of the original. Another term for this is a "loan translation." In French, calque means "copy," from calquer, "to trace by rubbing."

Example Sentences

For example, did you know the difference between a loanword and a calque?

From Slate • Mar. 8, 2013

By the way, I knew the difference between a loanword and a calque and the Defiant Ones, but not what was going on in the car with Giardia.

From Slate • Mar. 8, 2013

This done, one of the knights closed his visor, and the other tried to follow his example, but the calque, dented from the effects of a blow, refused to allow the visor to descend.

From The Winning of the Golden Spurs by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)