Loan Words and Foreign Expressions

What loan words are and why CDS tests them

A loan word is a word taken from another language and used in English with little or no change. A foreign expression is usually a short phrase — often Latin or French — that English speakers use ready-made, such as vice versa or cul-de-sac. Over centuries of trade, conquest and scholarship, English absorbed these words wholesale rather than inventing native equivalents, which is why a single English sentence can carry traces of half a dozen languages.

English is a great borrower. From Latin it took et cetera and versus; from French rendezvous and etiquette; from Italian piano and fiasco; from Hindi and other Indian languages shampoo, jungle and bungalow. Examiners like these because the meaning is fixed, so a clean right answer exists.

There is also a practical reason these words matter for an officer. Defence, law and administration are fields steeped in formal vocabulary. A military communique might mention a status quo along the border; a court order may be sub judice; a committee may be formed on an ad hoc basis. The same phrases that earn you marks in the written paper also appear in the newspapers you discuss at the SSB interview, so the effort pays twice over.

High-yield Latin expressions

Latin gives English its most formal, legal and academic borrowings. These are the most repeatedly tested in defence exams.

• bona fide — genuine, in good faith (a bona fide student)
• de facto — in fact, in reality (whether legal or not)
• de jure — by right, according to law
• status quo — the existing state of affairs
• vice versa — the other way round
• per capita — per head, per person
• ad hoc — for a particular purpose only, not permanent
• quid pro quo — something given in return for something
• prima facie — on first appearance, at first sight
• in toto — completely, entirely
• ipso facto — by that very fact
• e.g. (exempli gratia) — for example; i.e. (id est) — that is

Notice how compact these phrases are. A single Latin expression can replace a whole clause of English. Instead of writing "on the basis of what we can see at first glance, the accused appears guilty", a writer simply says the case is prima facie strong. This economy is exactly why formal English keeps the borrowings: they pack precise meaning into two or three words.

More Latin borrowings worth knowing

A second list of Latin expressions that surface in comprehension and meaning questions:

• alma mater — the school or college one attended
• alter ego — a second self, a very close friend
• verbatim — word for word, exactly
• bonus — something extra (literally "good")
• via — by way of
• versus — against
• et cetera (etc.) — and the rest, and so on
• per se — in itself, intrinsically
• sine die — without a fixed day (adjourned indefinitely)
• sub judice — under judicial consideration
• ex officio — by virtue of one's office or post
• in camera — in private, not in open court

French expressions you must recognise

French borrowings carry a touch of polish — cuisine, diplomacy, the arts. CDS frequently picks these for meaning questions.

• coup d'etat — a sudden, often violent seizure of power
• rendezvous — a meeting at an agreed time and place
• fait accompli — a thing already done and beyond changing
• carte blanche — full freedom or authority to act
• laissez-faire — a policy of non-interference
• cul-de-sac — a dead-end street; a situation with no way out
• etiquette — rules of polite social behaviour
• protege — a person guided and helped by an influential person
• nouveau riche — the newly rich, often lacking refinement
• tete-a-tete — a private conversation between two people
• elite — the choicest or best part of a group
• debut — a first public appearance

French expressions often carry a shade of attitude that plain English lacks. Nouveau riche is faintly disapproving; elite suggests admiration; laissez-faire hints at deliberate distance. When a meaning question gives you four options, the right one usually matches not just the dictionary sense but this tone, so read the full sentence before choosing.

Borrowings from other languages

English also borrows widely from Greek, Italian, German, Spanish and Indian languages. A few examiners' favourites:

• kindergarten (German) — a school for very young children
• blitzkrieg (German) — a sudden, swift military attack
• fiasco (Italian) — a complete and humiliating failure
• graffiti (Italian) — writing or drawing on public walls
• guerrilla (Spanish) — irregular warfare by small bands
• plaza (Spanish) — an open public square
• cliche (French) — an overused, stale expression
• juggernaut (Hindi) — an unstoppable, crushing force
• pundit (Hindi) — an expert or learned authority
• bazaar (Persian) — a market

German borrowings tend to be vivid and forceful — blitzkrieg and kindergarten both paint a clear picture. Italian gave English much of its musical and culinary vocabulary, while Spanish contributed words tied to warfare and trade, such as guerrilla. Recognising the source language is not just trivia: it often hints at the field of meaning, which helps you guess correctly when a phrase is unfamiliar.

Confusable foreign pairs to keep straight

Examiners love near-twin phrases. Lock these contrasts in:

• de facto (in fact) vs de jure (by law)
• coup d'etat (seizure of power) vs coup de grace (final blow)
• e.g. (for example) vs i.e. (that is, in other words)
• per annum (per year) vs per capita (per head)
• prima facie (at first sight) vs bona fide (in good faith)
• alma mater (one's college) vs alter ego (a second self)

The trouble with these pairs is that both members sound formal and learned, so under exam pressure the mind reaches for whichever it heard most recently. Distinguishing them at the moment of revision — not in the exam hall — is the whole battle. Write each pair on opposite halves of a flashcard and quiz yourself until the wrong one feels obviously wrong.

Spelling and pronunciation traps

Foreign words keep their original spelling, which rarely matches their sound. Errors creep in when you spell by ear.

• rendezvous — the silent letters trip people up; pronounced "ron-day-voo".
• bourgeois — "boor-zhwah", meaning middle-class.
• liaison — note the two i's; a close working connection.
• connoisseur — an expert judge in matters of taste.
• entrepreneur — a person who starts a business venture.
• questionnaire — double n; a set of printed questions.

The reason these words are hard is that they keep French or Latin spelling conventions while being pronounced in a half-Anglicised way. The silent s in rendezvous, the ge in bourgeois sounding like "zh", and the doubled letters in connoisseur all break normal English rules. The only safe method is to memorise the printed form of each word as an image, rather than trying to build it from the sound.

Using loan words correctly in sentences

Knowing a meaning is not enough — CDS fill-in questions need the right phrase in the right slot. The phrase must fit the grammar of the sentence as well as its sense. Some borrowings work as adjectives (a bona fide claim), some as adverbs (he quoted it verbatim), and some as nouns (the merger was a fait accompli). Test the fit, not just the meaning. Study these model uses:

• The committee was set up on an ad hoc basis to handle the crisis.
• By the time we objected, the merger was a fait accompli.
• The new manager was given carte blanche to reorganise the office.
• Although he holds no legal title, he is the de facto head of the village.
• The minister reproduced the speech verbatim, missing not a word.
• As an ex officio member, the Principal attends every meeting.

A smart strategy to learn them fast

You cannot cram every borrowing, so work by frequency and grouping. The list of foreign expressions is endless, but the slice that CDS actually tests is small and stable year after year. Aim your energy there first, then widen the net only if time allows. A focused approach beats trying to swallow a whole dictionary of borrowings.

1. Group by language — Latin, French, others — so meanings cluster in memory.
2. Prioritise legal and political phrases (status quo, sub judice, de facto) — they repeat most in CDS.
3. Learn pairs together so you never swap de facto and de jure under pressure.
4. Read editorials daily and jot every foreign expression you meet into a single revision page.
5. Self-test weekly with phrase-to-meaning matching; recall, not re-reading, fixes vocabulary.

Previous-year style practice

This is the exact format CDS uses — a foreign phrase tested for its meaning.

Quick revision