List of Arabic Loanwords in English - K-L

K-L

Kermes (insect genus), kermes (dye), kermes oak (tree), kermesite (mineral)

قرمز qirmiz, kermes. Kermes insects produce a red dye that in medieval times was commercially valuable for dyeing clothes. In the Mediterranean region the insects' preferred food was the sap of the kermes oak tree. Two medieval Arabic dictionaries say al-qirmiz is an "Armenian dye". Perhaps the word is ultimately from Sanskritic krmi-ja, "worm-produced".

khat

قات qāt, the plant Catha edulis and the stimulant obtained from it. Khat was borrowed directly from Arabic qāt in the mid 19th century. The technical botany name Catha was borrowed from the same Arabic in the mid 18th century (botanist was Peter Forskal). The technical chemistry names cathine and cathinone are 20th century from Catha.

kohl (cosmetics)

كحل kohl, finely powdered galena, stibnite, and similar sooty-colored powder used for eye-shadow, eye-liner, and mascara. The word with that meaning was in travellers' reports in English for centuries before it was adopted natively in English.

lacquer

لكّ lakk, lacquer, or any resin used for varnishing. The Arabic came from the Sanskrit for lac, a particular kind of resin, native in India, used to make a varnish. The Arabic entered late medieval Latin as lacca | laca. . Two lesser-seen varnishing resins with Arabic word-descent are sandarac and elemi.

lemon

ليمون līmūn, lemon. The cultivation of lemons, limes, and bitter oranges was introduced to the Mediterranean region by the Arabs in the mid-medieval era. The ancient Greeks & Romans knew the citron, but not the lemon, lime, or orange. Ibn al-'Awwam in the late 12th century distinguished ten kinds of citrus fruits grown in Andalusia and spelled the lemon as اللامون al-lāmūn. Abdallatif al-Baghdadi (died 1231) distinguished almost as many different citrus fruits in Egypt and spelled the lemon as الليمون al-līmūn. The Arabic word came from Persian. The lemon tree's native origin appears to be in India.

lime (fruit)

ليم līm, any citrus fruit, a back-formation or a collective noun associated with ليمون līmūn; see lemon. Spanish, Portuguese & Italian lima = "lime (fruit)". . Today's English "lime" has become a color-name as well as a fruit. The color-name originated by reference to the fruit. It can be noted in passing that all the following English color-names are descended from Arabic words (not necessarily Arabic color-words): amber (color), apricot (color), aubergine (color), azure (color), coffee (color), crimson (color), carmine (color), henna (color), lemon (color), lime (color), orange (color), saffron (color), scarlet (color), tangerine (color).

luffa

لوف lūf, luffa (especially Luffa aegyptiaca). The word entered European botany nomenclature as Luffa in 1706 from Egypt. The luffa is a tropical plant which was under cultivation with irrigation in Egypt at the time. It has been in English botany books as Luffa since the 18th century. In the later 19th century it re-entered English in non-botanical discourse as "Loofah" referring to the luffa scrubbing sponge.

lute

العود al-ʿaūd, the oud. "The Portuguese form pt:Alaúde clearly shows the Arabic origin." Also Spanish alod in 1254, alaut in about 1330, laud in 1343. The earliest unambiguous record in English is in the 2nd half of the 14th century (Middle English Dictionary).