How Spanish Influenced Languages Around the World
Explore Spanish loanwords in Filipino, Greek, French, German, and English, and see how language contact works in both directions.
Introduction
Hola, amigos y amigas.
You may use words borrowed from Spanish more often than you realize. Filipino, which is based on Tagalog, also has many Spanish loanwords.
Today, we’re going to explore how the Spanish language has left its mark on other languages. Let me show you the history and connections behind it while learning Spanish vocabulary. Let’s go!
Spanish is spoken by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that more than 500 million people had native proficiency in 2025.
Spanish developed over centuries from the spoken Latin of the Iberian Peninsula. Contact with earlier Iberian languages and, later, Arabic also shaped its vocabulary. Many Spanish words of Greek origin reached the language through Latin.
Let’s have a look at the Spanish that we find in other languages.
We’ll start with Filipino.
The Philippines has many languages. Filipino, which is based on Tagalog, and English are the official languages; Tagalog has borrowed many Spanish words.
Here are examples. Notice that their spellings and pronunciations have adapted:
- Bintana – Ventana (Window)
- Biyahe – Viaje (Trip)
- Kwento – Cuento (Tale)
- Bisita – Visita (Visit)
- Keso – Queso (Cheese)
- Niyebe – Nieve (Snow)
Among many other words.
Spanish rule in the Philippines lasted more than three centuries. Contact during that period left Spanish loanwords in several Philippine languages.
Many surnames in the Philippines have Spanish forms, including De la Cruz, García, Reyes, Ramos, Mendoza, and Santos. Colonial naming policies helped spread such surnames; a Spanish-looking surname does not by itself establish Spanish ancestry.
Chavacano is a group of Spanish-based creole varieties spoken in the Philippines. Chamorro is different: it is an Austronesian language of the Mariana Islands with many Spanish loanwords, as the University of Hawaiʻi explains. I was surprised by how much Chavacano vocabulary I could recognize.
Let’s go with English.
In the United States there is a big influence from Latin American countries.
The western and southern United States include many Spanish place names, such as Los Ángeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Colorado, and Nevada. The regions have different histories: Mexico ceded a large area to the United States under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, while Florida was transferred by Spain under a separate treaty.
- Los Ángeles (The angels)
- Colorado (Red colored)
- Nevada (Snow-covered)
English has also borrowed words through Spanish, especially words connected with food, places, and culture.
Tortilla, quesadilla, tequila, tapas, fiesta, siesta, matador, burrito, cilantro, vanilla (from vainilla), and taco – which by the way in Spain is also a slang word that means “bad word.”
No digas tacos (Don’t say bad words, don’t curse)
Other words you might hear are:
Aficionado, amigo (friend), barrio (neighborhood), guerrilla, patio, macho, cafeteria (from cafetería), adios (from adiós), plaza, galleon (from galeón), and mosquito. The Spanish word mosquito is formed from mosca (fly) with the diminutive suffix -ito.
We also have a few Spanish loanwords in Greek.
For example:
Παρέα (paréa) means a group of friends or company in Greek. The Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek traces it through Judeo-Spanish parea to Spanish pareja (couple or pair).
Μουντιάλ (moundiál) refers to the football World Cup in Greek. The Greek dictionary traces it to Spanish mundial, meaning “worldwide.”
Τσικό (tsikó) refers to a football club’s youth teams. It may come from Spanish chico (“boy”), though the Greek dictionary marks that etymology as uncertain.
Spanish also contains many words with Greek roots, often transmitted through Latin.
You can also hear many of those words in other languages, like French, German, Dutch…
Let’s keep on with Spanish in other languages.
In French you can also see in the dictionary:
- Sangria (Sangría, Spanish drink)
- Hacienda (Big property)
- Arroyo (Stream)
- Bolero (A name used for distinct Spanish and Cuban musical genres)
- Cacique (Chief)
- Salsa (A musical genre and dance; the Spanish word originally means “sauce”)
In German:
- Fandango (a Spanish song and dance form)
- Embargo (a trade restriction)
Language contact also works in the other direction: Spanish has borrowed words from Indigenous languages of the Americas, and Spanish words have entered languages such as Quechua. Quechua is still spoken across parts of the Andes; it is not limited to the area around Cusco.
Conclusion
Languages keep changing as speakers borrow, adapt, and create words. Spanish has influenced other languages, and other languages have influenced Spanish. ¡Adiós!
