List of loanwords in Tagalog

The Tagalog language has developed a unique vocabulary since its inception from its Austronesian roots. According to lexographer Jose Villa Panganiban, "of the 30,000 root words in the Tagalog language, there are close to 4,000 from Spanish, 3,200 from Malay, 1,500 from English, 1,500 from both Hokkien (Min Nan) and Yue Chinese dialects, 300 from Tamil and Sanskrit, 200 from Arabic, and a few hundred altogether from other languages". Some linguists claim that borrowings from Malay and Chamorro cannot be ascertained at this time, as words from the Old Austronesian language and those from Malay and Chamorro are still ambiguous and too similar to be distinguished.

The Filipino language incorporated Spanish loanwords as a result of 400 years of contact with the Spanish language. In their review of a Pilipino-English dictionary, Llamzon and Thorpe (1972) point out that 33% of word roots are of Spanish origin. An example is the sentence below in which Spanish–derived words are in italics (original in parentheses):

The adoption of the Abakada alphabet in 1940 changed the spelling of most of the Spanish loanwords present in the Filipino language. The loanwords derived from the Spanish language have their original spellings indigenized according to the rules of the Abakada alphabet. Examples include alkalde (from Sp. alcalde), anyos (from Sp. años), basura (from Sp. basura), bintana (from Sp. ventana), demokrasya (from Sp. democracia), estudyante (from Sp. estudiante), heneral (from Sp. general), panyo (from Sp. paño), pato (from Sp. pato), prinsesa (from Sp. princesa), sinturon (from Sp. cinturón) and telebisyon (from Sp. televisión).

Other loanwords derived from the Spanish language underwent spelling and pronunciation changes. Vowel changes can be observed to some of the Spanish words upon adoption into the Filipino language. For example, an /i/ to /a/ vowel shift can be observed in the Filipino word paminta, which came from the Spanish word pimienta. A rare vowel change from /e/ to /u/ can be observed in the words unano (from Sp. enano) and umpisa (from Sp. empezar). Other words derived from Spanish underwent vowel deletion upon adoption into the Filipino language, such as the words pusta (from Sp. apuesta), umento (from Sp. aumento), tarantado (from Sp. atarantado), kursonada (from Sp. corazonada), Pasko (from Sp. Pascua) and labi (from Sp. labio). Consonant shifts can also be observed to some of the Spanish words upon their adoption into the Filipino language. The [r] to [l] consonant shift can be observed in the following words: alma (from Sp. armar) asukal (from Sp. azúcar), balbas (from Sp. barba), multo (from Sp. muerto), kasal (from Sp. casar), kumpisal (from Sp. confesar), almusal (from Sp. almorzar), dasal (from Sp. rezar) and nunal (from Sp. lunar). The loss of the /l/ phoneme can be observed in the Filipino word kutson derived from the Spanish colchón.

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