section_path: Vocabulary/Loanwords
section_name: Loanwords
paragraph_text: Loanwords
  
  Like many other languages, Chinese has absorbed a sizable number of loanwords from other cultures. Most Chinese words are formed out of native Chinese morphemes, including words describing imported objects and ideas. However, direct phonetic borrowing of foreign words has gone on since ancient times.
  
  Some early Indo-European loanwords in Chinese have been proposed, notably ' honey ' (蜜; mì), ' lion ' (狮; 獅; shī), and perhaps ' horse ' (马; 馬; mǎ), ' pig ' (猪; 豬; zhū), ' dog ' (犬; quǎn), and ' goose ' (鹅; 鵝; é). Ancient words borrowed from along the Silk Road during the Old Chinese period include ' grape ' (葡萄; pútáo), ' pomegranate ' (石榴; shíliú), and ' lion ' (狮子; 獅子; shīzi). Some words were borrowed from Buddhist scriptures, including ' Buddha ' (佛; Fó) and ' bodhisattva ' (菩萨; 菩薩; Púsà). Other words came from nomadic peoples to the north, such as ' hutong ' (胡同). Words borrowed from the peoples along the Silk Road, such as ' grape ' (葡萄), generally have Persian etymologies. Buddhist terminology is generally derived from Sanskrit or Pali, the liturgical languages of northern India. Words borrowed from the nomadic tribes of the Gobi, Mongolian or northeast regions generally have Altaic etymologies, such as 琵琶 (pípá), the Chinese lute, or ' cheese or yogurt ' (酪; lào), but from exactly which source is not always clear.