Gallicisms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Expressions or syntactic structures that have been adopted from French into other languages appear in various forms within different linguistic realms
2. Words or phrases borrowed from French integrated into another language's vocabulary
3. Linguistic elements taken from French and used in different languages as idiomatic or stylistic features

Etymology: "Gallicisms" is the plural of "gallicism," a word formed in English from Latin "Gallicus," meaning "Gallic" or "French," itself from "Gallus," the name of the Gauls. The suffix "-ism" marks a feature of language, so a gallicism is a French-influenced expression or construction carried into another tongue. English has plenty of these, from "bon voyage" and "déjà vu" to the habit of placing adjectives after nouns in terms like "attorney general." Some were taken whole, while others were copied in structure, such as word-for-word calques that bring a French way of putting an idea into a new language.