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Glite Dictionary
calque

calque

9.9
A word or phrase that translates another language word for word
  • noun
  • /kælˈk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : calco
  • Many English expressions, such as 'skyscraper', are considered calques of terms from other languages.

Examples

  • The term calque refers to a phrase that has been translated word for word from another language.

  • Aljamiado is also full of semantic calques: expressions all of whose words are Romance, but which constitute such literal translations of an Arabic term that they are unintelligible without knowledge of the original language.

    Academic text (1995)

  • When a language borrows directly from another by translating its phrases, it creates calques.

Synonyms

loan translation
vscalque
  • Specialized
8.1

A word or phrase made by changing each part of a foreign phrase to keep its meaning

is the same idea but expressed with different wording

Compounds

calque formation
  • Specialized
9.8

Making a new phrase by translating the words of one from another language, for example skyscraper from French

How Literal

calque
  • Specialized
9.9
translation
34 3.5

Surface Forms

calque singular
calques plural

Etymology

Calque comes from the French verb calquer, which means 'to trace' or 'to copy'. So a calque is an exact 'copy' of a phrase from another language that keeps the same words and meaning.