Meanings
plural calques
- human sciencesA word or phrase in a language formed by word-for-word or morpheme-by-morpheme translation of a word in another language.
One of the primary benefits of calque is its ability to enhance cross-cultural communication.
2024 June 7, Soumaya Amine Al Salti, “Calque Examples in Translating: Impacts on Linguistic Diversity”, in Soumaya Salti, archived from the original on 21 Mar 20252 more examples
David S. Powers, professor of Islamic history and law at Cornell, says he thinks that the word as used today is in the nature of what linguists call a calque, a borrowing from another language in literal translation […]
2005 March 27, William Safire, “Kifaya!”, in The New York Times Magazine, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2021Those phrases, translated from Spanish, are known as calques. […] The three young Miamians in the video also use “super” as an adverb, one of the calques from Spanish mentioned in Dr. Carter’s research. (“Ay, I’m super bloated.”)
2023 July 26, Patricia Mazzei, “‘Get Down’ From the Car. ‘Make’ the Line. Is Miami English a Dialect?”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 31 Jul 2023Synonyms: loan translation, calquing
present singular third person calques · participle present calquing · participle past calqued · past calqued
- transitivehuman sciencesTo adopt (a word or phrase) from one language to another by semantic translation of its parts.
1 more example
Terms like "cloud computing" have been calqued into multiple languages, making it easier for global audiences to grasp complex technological concepts. […] For example, translating Shakespeare's works into other languages often involves calquing phrases to maintain the rhythm and metaphorical richness of the original.
2024 June 7, Soumaya Amine Al Salti, “Calque Examples in Translating: Impacts on Linguistic Diversity”, in Soumaya Salti, archived from the original on 21 Mar 2025
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA word or phrase in a language formed by word-for-word or morpheme-by-morpheme translation of a word in another language.
More synonyms by meaning
nounan expression introduced into one language by translating it from another language
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincalcāre“to tread”
- Italiancalcare
- Frenchcalque“calque”
- Englishcalque
Learned borrowing from French calque (“calque”, literally “copy, tracing”), from calquer (“to copy, trace”) (whence also calk), itself borrowed from Italian calcare, from Latin calcāre (“to tread”). Doublet of calcate and calcation.
More words from French, Italian, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans leenvertaling, calque
- leenvertalingword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- calqueword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Arabic تَرْجَمَة اِقْتِرَاضِيَّة
- تَرْجَمَة اِقْتِرَاضِيَّة (tarjama iqtirāḍiyya)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Bulgarian ка́лка, калки́рам
- ка́лка (kálka)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- калки́рам (kalkíram)adopt a word by translation of its parts
Catalan calc
- calcword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Chinese Cantonese 借譯 /借译, 借譯 /借译
- 借譯 /借译 (ze³ jik⁶)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- 借譯 /借译 (ze³ jik⁶)adopt a word by translation of its parts
Chinese Mandarin 借譯 /借译, 仿造詞 /仿造词
- 借譯 /借译 (jièyì)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- 仿造詞 /仿造词 (fǎngzàocí)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- 仿譯 /仿译 (fǎngyì)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- 借譯 /借译 (jièyì)adopt a word by translation of its parts
Czech kalk, kalk
- kalkword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- kalkadopt a word by translation of its parts
Danish oversættelseslån
- oversættelseslånword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Dutch leenvertaling
- leenvertalingword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Esperanto paŭso, tradukprunto
- paŭsoword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- tradukpruntoword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- kalkeoword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Finnish käännöslaina, omaksua käännöslaina
- käännöslainaword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- omaksua käännöslainaadopt a word by translation of its parts
French calque, calquer
- calqueword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- calqueradopt a word by translation of its parts
German Lehnübersetzung, lehnübersetzen
- Lehnübersetzungword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- lehnübersetzenadopt a word by translation of its parts
Greek μεταφραστικό δάνειο, εκτύπωμα
- μεταφραστικό δάνειο (metafrastikó dáneio)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- εκτύπωμα (ektýpoma)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Hungarian tükörfordítás, tükörszó
- tükörfordításword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- tükörszóword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- kalkword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- tükörfordítással alkotadopt a word by translation of its parts
Icelandic tökuþýðing
- tökuþýðingword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Indonesian pinjam terjemah, meminjam terjemah
- pinjam terjemahword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- meminjam terjemahadopt a word by translation of its parts
Irish lomaistriúchán
- lomaistriúchánword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Italian calco
- calcoword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Japanese 翻訳借用
- 翻訳借用 (hon'yaku shakuyō)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Korean 번역차용
- 번역차용 (beonyeokchayong)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Latvian kalks
- kalksword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Norwegian Bokmål oversettingslån, oversettelseslån
- oversettingslånword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- oversettelseslånword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Persian گرتهبرداری
- گرتهبرداری (gerte-bardâri)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Polish kalka
- kalkaword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Portuguese decalque, decalque linguístico
- decalqueword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- decalque linguísticoword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- decalcaradopt a word by translation of its parts
Romanian calc
- calcword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Russian ка́лька, калькировать
- ка́лька (kálʹka)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- калькировать (kalʹkirovatʹ)adopt a word by translation of its parts
Slovak kalk
- kalkword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Spanish calco, calcar
- calcoword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- calcaradopt a word by translation of its parts
Swedish översättningslån
- översättningslånword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Thai แคลเก้
- แคลเก้word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Turkish öyküntü
- öyküntüword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Ukrainian ка́лька
- ка́лька (kálʹka)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Welsh cyfieithiad benthyg
- cyfieithiad benthygword formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
Yiddish קאַלקע, קאַלקירן
- קאַלקע (kalke)word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language
- קאַלקירן (kalkirn)adopt a word by translation of its parts
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with calque
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
calque. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/calque
“calque.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/calque. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “calque,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/calque.
Source: calque on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.