borrowing (n.)

A term used in COMPARATIVE and HISTORICAL linguistics to refer to a linguistic FORM taken over by one LANGUAGE or DIALECT from another; such borrowings are usually known as ‘LOAN words’ (e.g. restaurant, bonhomie, chagrin, which have come into English from French), and several types have been recognized. Less commonly, sounds and GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES may be borrowed, e.g. the pronunciation of the above loan words with a French or quasi-French accent, or the influence of English grammar often found in European languages, e.g. using an English plural -s for a noun, as in drinks, ski-lifts, goals, girls.