Adaptation

Hello everyone,

Does "adaptation'' meaning "word or expression adapted to another language" sound natural/correct in the examples I made below?

a. The word "resume" is an English adaptation of the French word "résumé.''
b. The word "futebol" is a Portuguese adaptation of the English word "football.''

Thank you in advance!

Hi, Xavier -

Xavier da Silva said:

Does "adaptation'' meaning "word or expression adapted to another language"

I don't think it has that meaning. I have never heard that use. It is common to say that one language adopts (or its speakers adopt) a word from another language. Is adopt what you mean?

But that does not mean that you can't choose to use adaptation about this topic, if the word is used correctly.

The two example words (resume, football) are pronounced the same in the new language. So the words themselves have not been adapted (they have not been changed). The only part of them that has been changed is the spelling. You could say that the new spellings are adaptations of the old spellings, to fit the new language's spelling rules.

Thank you very much, Dojibear.

Could I use "version", as in "The word "resume" is an English version of the French word "résumé.'' and "The word "futebol" is a Portuguese version of the English word "football.''

Thank you in advance!

That sounds good to me. I can't think of a better term - but if someone else can, they'll add to this thread .

Might it be loan word or loanword?

Those definitely are loanwords. But the term loanword also encompasses words like café, déjà vu, piñata, façade, which are not adapted to fit English spelling. Apparently the term loanblend has been used to describe words like resume and futbol, but it's not widely used.