Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Spanish ·1750s
Adobe
from adobe
- Meaning
- Sun-dried mud brick; a building made from it.
- Source word
- adobe
- Route into English
- Arabic *ṭūba* (brick) → Spanish *adobe* → American English via the Southwest after 1848. Arabic word, American Spanish usage, English adoption; the software company took its name from a creek in California named for the mud bricks.
- Arrived
- 1750s
From Spanish
American Spanish, not peninsular Spanish, provided most of the modern loanwords — through US expansion westward and Latin American trade.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.