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Polish Much of English is made up of words from other languages, and Polish is a contributor in this respect, though less often directly than through other languages, especially Yiddish. Polish words have been transmitted through Yiddish to give us, for example, yarmulke (the small round cap worn by some Jewish men and boys), schmatte (an informal word for a rag or worthless thing), schav (a chilled soup), chachka ("inexpensive trinket or souvenir"), and the slang word nudge ("annoy somebody in a persistent or pestering way"), all these adopted into English during the course of the 20th century. Other 20th-century borrowings, this time directly from Polish, include kielbasa (a spicy smoked sausage), rendzina (a type of dark, rich soil), ogonek (a mark under vowels that usually indicates nasalization), and zloty (the unit of currency, literally in Polish "golden"). Polish Solidarność, the name of a federation of trade unions in Poland founded in 1980 that became famous for challenging the Soviet-backed government, was translated into English as Solidarity.
19th-century borrowings from Polish include the dessert the rum baba, which came through French from a Polish word meaning "married peasant woman," the dances mazurka and polka, and britzka, a type of horse-drawn carriage. Even earlier Polish played a part in transmitting the words kumiss ("slightly alcoholic, fermented, and sour-tasting milk from a mare or camel," ultimately from Tatar), and horde (ultimately from Turkish ordu "camp, army").
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