Spanish Words of Turkish Origin

Quick Answer

In this article, we’ll discuss Spanish words of Turkish origin, such as caviar(caviar) and sorbete(sorbet).

Questions This Article Answers

Are there words in Spanish of Turkish origin?

How did Turkish words come into Spanish?

What are some Spanish words that come from Turkish?

Santa Sofía

Turkish Influence on Spanish

A great number of words of turco(Turkish) origin found their way into español(Spanish) through francés(French).

Many Spanish words of Turkish origin are related to clothes, food, politics and the military.

Adaptations, Calques, and Loanwords

A linguistic adaptación(adaptation) is a word or phrase taken from another language but adapted to the target language for phonologic, lexical, or syntactic reasons. For example, breeze is an adaptation of the Spanish word brisa.

A calco(calque) is a word or phrase translated literally into another language. For example, roadrunner is a calque of the Spanish word correcaminos (correr: to run + caminos: roads).

A préstamo lingüístico(loanword) is a word or phrase taken from another language and used in its original form. For example, patio is a loanword taken from Spanish.

Spanish Words of Turkish Origin

The following words are turquismos(words of Turkish origin adapted to Spanish).

Romanized Turkish	Spanish	English
aǧa	agá	agha
altɩn	latón	brass
arnavut	arnaúte	Albanian
baklava	baklava	baklava
balkan	balcánico	Balkan
beg armudu	bergamota	bergamot
begim	begum	begum
boğasɩ	bocací	buckram
cacıg	tzatziki	tzatziki
çagrɩ	segrí	shagreen
çakal	chacal	jackal
çavuş	chauz	chiaus
çubuk	chibuquí	chibouk
dayɩ	dey	dey
derviş	derviche	dervish
fes	fez	fez
havyar	caviar	caviar
jān	kan	khan
kaftan	caftán	kaftan
kahve	café	coffee
kahya	cayá	butler
kara-kulak	caracal	caracal
karamusal	caramuzal	caramoussal
kayɩk	caique	caique
kilim	kílim	kilim
kɩrbaç	corbacho	whip
kɩrgɩz	kirguís	Kyrgyz
köşk	quiosco, kiosko	kiosk
minare	minarete	minaret
müezzin	almuédano	muezzin
musakka	musaca, musaka	mousakka
nargile	narguile	hookah pipe
odalik	odalisca	odalisque
oğlan	ulano	uhlan
ordu	horda	horde
osman	otomano	Ottoman
pāšā	bajá, pachá	pasha
pilav	pilaf	pilaf
rakɩ	raki	raki
sancak	sanjaco	sanjak
saray	serrallo	palace
serasker	serasquier	seraskier
şerbet	sorbete	sorbet
sipahi	espahí	spahi
sultan	sultán	sultan
ṭābūr	tabor	battalion
tülbent	tulipán	tulip
tülbent	turbante	turban
türk	turco	Turk
vali	valí	vali
yağmurluk	chamerluco	raincoat
yatağan	yagatán	yagathan
yelek	chaleco	vest
yeni çeri	jenízaro	janissary
yoğurt	yogur	yogurt
yurt	yurta	yurt
zabata	zapato	shoe

examples
Compré diez tulipanes rojos. I bought ten red tulips.
En la esquina hay un quiosco. There's a kiosk on the corner.
¿Cuál es la altura del minarete? How tall is the minaret?