Q.English is a language that contains words from many other languages. This inclusiveness is one of the reasons it is now a world language. For example: petite – French; kindergarten – German; capital – Latin; democracy – Greek; bazaar – Hindi. Find out the origins of the following words: tycoon, barbecue, zero, tulip, veranda, ski, logo, robot, trek, bandicoot.

Each of these everyday English words was borrowed from a different language. Here are their origins.

The origins of the words are:

• tycoon – Japanese (from taikun, “great lord”)
• barbecue – Spanish (barbacoa), taken from a Caribbean Taino word
• zero – Arabic (sifr), reaching English through Italian
• tulip – Turkish (from a word for a turban), through Persian
• veranda – Portuguese (varanda); also linked to Hindi
• ski – Norwegian (from Old Norse skidh)
• logo – Greek (from logos, “word”)
• robot – Czech (from robota, “forced labour,” coined by Karel Capek)
• trek – Afrikaans/Dutch (from trekken, “to travel or pull”)
• bandicoot – Telugu (from pandi-kokku, “pig-rat”)

This wide spread of sources — from Japan to the Caribbean, from Arabia to South India — is exactly why English is called an inclusive world language.