Food & drink

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The Dutch of New Netherland called small cakes koekje, 'little cake'; American English kept the word after New Amsterdam became New York, while Britain kept saying biscuit. The American cookie (and the web cookie) then spread to Japan, Korea, Thailand, France and Russia, while English already had the Norse cousin, cake.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to American English

From Proto-Germanic to Old Norse, Middle English, English

From Proto-Germanic to Old High German, German

From Dutch to Afrikaans

From American English to Japanese

From American English to Korean

From American English to Thai

From American English to French

From American English to Russian

500 BCEProto-Germanic

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

Weakest linkCertain

The road to American English

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