Common Polish Words We Use Everyday

Polish words are used frequently in everyday English conversations because many Polish words have been adopted by American English speakers. The most common Polish words used in American English are ‘make-up’. ‘Pierogi’, ‘Spruce’, and ‘Vodka’. As you can tell common Polish words repeatedly appear in everyday dialogues between English speakers.

Naturally, as humans, we are enamored with food, especially foods many of us have been introduced to at home during our upbringing. The foods some Americans of Polish origin are most familiar with are the foods listed below

1. Rogal is a Polish crescent roll with a white poppy-seed filling.
2. Starka is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented rye.
3. Pierogi is a filled dumpling.
4. Mazurka is either a dance or type of cake hailing from the region of Masuria.
5. Bryndza is a crumbly sheep’s milk cheese.
6. Krowka is milk fudge with a semi-soft texture having a hard exterior and a fluid interior.
7. Makowiec is a poppy-seed cake/bread.
8. Kasha is a buckwheat grain many health conscious people in America are familiar.
9. Kabanos is a thin, soft, and dry sausage with a smoky flavor. In the deli they are the thin extra-long sausages folded several times because of the extra length.
10. Kielbasa is a popular sausage of Polish origin. In stores and in deli’s it appears as a coarse U-shaped sausage.
11. Baba Cake is a traditional rum cake with almonds, orange rind and raisins added.
12. Barszcz is a beetroot soup.

Other Frequently Used Polish Words

No English speaker would be uncomfortable with this sentence: For Christmas, my police officer boyfriend found under the hand decorated spruce a Kevlar vest and his favorite mailed food box, filled with kielbasa. The sentence has three Polish word and every word recognizable and understandable by English speakers.
• Kevlar is the super strong and heat resistant synthetic fiber that forms the material from which bullet proof vests are made.
• Spruce is a coniferous evergreen tree like a pine tree.

The Polish language came to America with Poles immigrating after Poland was partitioned from 1800 to 1860 and once again between 1860 and World War I. In the latter half of the 1700s The Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia divided what was then called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into three countries. Poles were among the first Europeans to migrate to America. Today, Poles represent the largest part of the Slavic community living in America. It’s no wonder with speak Polish/English.