Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·French ·1900s
Déjà vu
from déjà vu
- Meaning
- The feeling of having already experienced the present moment.
- Source word
- déjà vu
- Route into English
- French *déjà vu* ("already seen") → English via the psychologist Émile Boirac in 1876, who coined the technical term in his *L'Avenir des sciences psychiques*. Still kept as a French phrase.
- Arrived
- 1900s
From French
Beyond the Norman conquest's Old French foundation, English kept borrowing from French for art, cuisine, fashion, and diplomacy throughout the modern period.
English borrows.
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