20 Sanskrit Words Used in English Every Day
You speak Sanskrit every day without knowing it. Jungle, sugar, candy, loot, chess, orange — all Sanskrit. The ancient language of the Vedas quietly shaped the English you use in every conversation. Here are the most surprising Sanskrit words hiding in plain English.
Why Does English Have So Many Sanskrit Words?
Sanskrit and English are both part of the Indo-European language family — they share a common ancestor spoken on the Eurasian steppes around 4000 BCE. Trade routes between India and Europe carried not just spices and silk but words. When British colonists arrived in India, they borrowed hundreds of words from Sanskrit and its descendants (Hindi, Bengali, Marathi) and brought them back to English.
Linguists estimate that over 200 English words trace directly or indirectly to Sanskrit roots.
The List: Sanskrit Words You Already Know
wild, rough land
gravel, grit, then crystallised sugar
a unit of weight used for gold
the peppercorn plant
action, deed, cause and effect
union, to yoke, to join
descent of a deity to earth
heavy, weighty, a teacher who removes darkness
extinguishing, liberation from suffering
instrument of thought, sacred formula
the precious blue-green gemstone; Sanskrit vaidūrya → Greek bēryllos → English beryl
to plunder, to rob
Bengal-style single-storey house
produced by a worm (the red dye insect)
broken piece, lump of sugar
the orange tree
shaped like antlers (the root)
four-limbed army — the original game
a scoundrel, one who conceals himself
five — the five original ingredients
The Bigger Picture
Sanskrit's reach extends beyond individual words. The entire number system you use — 0 through 9 — came to Europe from India via the Arab world. The Sanskrit concept of śūnya (शून्य — zero, emptiness) gave mathematics its most powerful tool.
Grammar as a discipline — the formal study of language — traces back to Pāṇini's Ashtadhyayi (400 BCE), the world's first formal grammar. Its influence shaped how linguists describe every language on Earth.
Learn the language behind the words.
VedaLingo teaches Sanskrit from the alphabet up — free, 10 minutes a day.
Start Learning Free →ॐ
Start learning Sanskrit — free, forever
Stories from the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, and Bhagavad Gītā. Grammar, shlokas, etymology. 10 minutes a day. No sign-up needed to begin.
Free · No credit card · Works on mobile