Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Arabic ·1590s
Tariff
from taʿrīfa
- Meaning
- A notification — particularly an official list of duties or fees.
- Source word
- taʿrīfa
- Route into English
- Arabic → Italian *tariffa* → English via 16th-century Mediterranean customs vocabulary. The word kept its bureaucratic sense across every hop.
- Arrived
- 1590s
From Arabic
Science, trade, and the Mediterranean transit of Andalusian scholarship gave English its Arabic stratum — especially in maths, chemistry, and commerce. Many entered through Latin or Italian.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.