Food & drinkTrade, money & letters

cola

The caffeine-rich kola nut, traded across West Africa for centuries, kept its local name in English; Coca-Cola (1886) made the spelling with c famous and turned cola into the word for a soft drink, which the company carried to China (可樂), Japan and the rest of the world.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to American English

From American English to Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese

From American English to Japanese

From American English to Korean

From American English to Vietnamese

From American English to German

From American English to Modern Hebrew

From American English to Russian

1600Mandinka

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

The road to American English

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