What does "gainword" mean?

A word that a language has borrowed from other languages. In the process, the spelling and pronunciation, and even meaning, may be altered.

What is a synonym for "gainword"?

Common synonyms include: loanword, loanword.

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A word that a language has borrowed from other languages. In the process, the spelling and pronunciation, and even meaning, may be altered. rare
"Words comprising a gainword + Maori suffix are entered as run-ons in alphabetical order where there is a root gainword as headword."

"Words comprising a gainword + Maori suffix are entered as run-ons in alphabetical order where there is a root gainword as headword."

From gain + word.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.