List of English words of Hungarian origin

This is a partial list of Hungarian

Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

loanword

Loanword

A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...

s in the English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

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biro

Biro

Bíró is a Hungarian surname meaning "judge", and may refer to:* A brand of ballpoint pen. In British English the word "biro" is often used as a generic term for any ballpoint pen.* László Bíró, the inventor of the ballpoint pen....

: From László Bíró
László Bíró
László József Bíró was the inventor of the modern ballpoint pen.Bíró was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1899. He presented the first production of the ball pen at the Budapest International Fair in 1931...

, the Hungarian inventor of the ballpoint pen

Ballpoint pen

A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument with an internal ink reservoir and a sphere for a point. The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere...

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coach

Coach (vehicle)

A coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...

: From kocsi, a horse‐drawn wagon with springs above the axles. Named after the village of Kocs

Kocs

Kocs is a village in Komárom-Esztergom county, Hungary. It lies west of Tata and west of Budapest.-History:Kocs is best known internationally as giving rise to the English word coach and its equivalents in nearly all European languages, for example: Czech koč, German kutsche, Dutch koets,...

in which this type of vehicle was invented. The verb 'to coach' is also derived from this root.
czardas : From csárdás, a Hungarian folk dance. Csárda also means 'tavern'.
goulash

Goulash

Goulash is a soup or stew of meat, noodles and vegetables , seasoned with paprika and other spices. Originating in Hungary, goulash is also a popular meal in Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania, Scandinavia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and the north-eastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia...

: From gulyás, a type of stew known in Hungarian as gulyás in Hungary, 'gulyásleves' is a soup dish; leves meaning soup. Gulyás

Gulyás (herdsman)

The gulyás is the traditional mounted cattle-herdsman of Hungary. The gulyás tradition is associated with the Hungarian puszta and with the Hungarian Grey or Hungarian Steppe breed of Podolic cattle, , now considered a meat breed but formerly used as oxen. Gulyás is the origin of the word goulash.-...

also means 'herdsman' dealing with cows, as the noun gulya is the Hungarian word for cow herd.
halászlé:, or Fisherman's Soup, a very hot and spicy river fish soup with a lot of paprika. (The actual Hungarian halászlé is not always made with hot paprika, unlike the internationally-known soup.)
hussar

Hussar

Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....

: From huszár, a light cavalry soldier.
komondor

Komondor

The Komondor is a large, white-colored Hungarian breed of livestock guardian dog with a long, corded coat....

: A big Hungarian breed of livestock guardian and dog, looking like big mop, always white.
kuvasz

Kuvasz

The Kuvasz is a dog breed of ancient Hungarian origin. Mention of the breed can be found in old Hungarian texts. It has historically been used to guard livestock, but has been increasingly found in homes as a pet over the last seventy years....

: A big Hungarian breed of shepherd dog, always white.
puli

Puli

The Puli is a medium-big breed of Hungarian herding and livestock guarding dog known for its long, corded coat. The tight curls of the coat, similar to dreadlocks, make it virtually waterproof. A similar looking, but much larger Hungarian dog breed is called Komondor.- Appearance :The Puli is a...

: A small Hungarian breed of shepherd dog, also looking like a mop, usually black or white.
sabre

Sabre

The sabre or saber is a kind of backsword that usually has a curved, single-edged blade and a rather large hand guard, covering the knuckles of the hand as well as the thumb and forefinger...

(UK) or saber (US): From the Hungarian word szablya, backsword

Backsword

A backsword is a sword with a blade on one edge, or an "edge-and-a-quarter." The back of the sword is often the thickest part of the blade and acts to support and strengthen it....

. The word made its way into English through French (sabre, sable) and German (Säbel). The Hungarian verb szabni means to slice or to tailor. Lasersabre - Star wars
shako

Shako

A shako is a tall, cylindrical military cap, usually with a peak or visor and sometimes tapered at the top...

or tsako : From csákó süveg, 'peaked cap', a stiff military hat with a high crown and plume.
tokaji

Tokaji

Tokaji is the name of the wines from the region of Tokaj-Hegyalja in Hungary and Slovakia. The name Tokaji is used for labeling wines from this wine district. This region is noted for its sweet wines made from grapes affected by noble rot, a style of wine which has a long history in this region...

or tokay : From tokaji aszú, the name of the wine from Tokaj

Tokaj

Tokaj , is a historical town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, 54 kilometers from county capital Miskolc. It is the centre of the famous Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district where the world famous Tokaji wine is produced.- History :...

, the centre of the local wine-growing district Tokaj-Hegyalja

Tokaj-Hegyalja

Tokaj-Hegyalja is a historical wine region located in southeastern Slovakia and northeastern Hungary. Hegyalja means "foothills" in Hungarian, and this was the original name of the region....

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verbunkos

Verbunkos

Verbunkos is an 18th-century Hungarian dance and music genre. Erroneously, this genre was sometimes attributed to Gypsies, because usually they were the musicians, although the Magyars themselves were sometimes performers,as well....

: a Hungarian men's folk dance and musical style (itself coming from German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

Werbung - meaning "military recruitment" here).
vizsla or vizla: From vizsla, a Hungarian breed of hunting dog.

See also