• Original language: English (from Old Northern French galon)
  • Original form and meaning: 'a unit of volume for liquid measure equal to eight pints: in Britain (also imperial gallon), equivalent to 4.55 litres; in the US, equivalent to 3.79 litres' [source: [1]]


(Note: If the status is not specifically indicated then the word is stylistically neutral and generally used; if earlier meaning and status equals current use the former may be expressed by writing "dito". Cf. also the project guidelines.)


Language Form Date of Borrowing (and Obsolescence) Current Meaning and Status Earlier Meanings and Statusses Source
Catalan ... ... '...' '...' ...
Croatian galon beg20c meaning: 'a measure of capacity used for liquids'; status: not (or no longer) recognized as English, but restricted to technical use dito DEA*
Czech ... ... '...' '...' ...
Danish ... ... '...' '...' ...
Dutch gallon beg20c meaning: 'a measure of capacity used for liquids'; status: restricted to technical use dito DEA*
English gallon [galən] 13c, from Old Nothern French galon, formed on medieval Latin gallēta (perhaps of Celtic origin) meaning: see above dito CODEE**
Estonian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Finnish gallona ... '...' '...' ...
French gallon [galõ] 17c meaning: see above; status: known mainly to bilinguals / technical: not (or no longer) recognized as English DEA*
Frisian ... ... '...' '...' ...
German Gallone meaning: see above; status: foreignism, used only in British or American contexts / technical: not (or no longer) recognized as English DEA*
Hungarian gallon [gallon] 19c meaning: see above; status: restricted technical use / foreignism DEA*
Irish ... ... '...' '...' ...
Italian gallone end18c meaning: see above; status: technical: not (or no longer) recognized as English DEA*
Latvian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Lithuanian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Maltese ... ... '...' '...' ...
Norwegian gallon [= Engl. pron.] mid19c meaning: see above; status: foreignism (used only in British or American contexts) DEA*
Polish galon [galon] beg19c meaning: see above; status: foreignism (used only in British or American contexts) DEA*
Portuguese ... ... '...' '...' ...
Rumantsch ... ... '...' '...' ...
Slovak ... ... '...' '...' ...
Slovenian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Spanish galón end19c meaning: see above; status: foreignism (used only in British or American contexts) / technical: not (or no longer) recognized as English DEA*
Swedish ... ... '...' '...' ...
  • Annotations: *DEA = Dictionary of European Anglicisms by Manfred Görlach (2001), Oxford: OUP.; **CODEE = The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology by T.F. Hoad (1986), Oxford: Clarendon.
Information on Other Languages edit
  • Icelandic: gallon/gallón [kal:o(u)n], beg20c, foreignism / technical: fully accepted but still marked as English.
  • Romanian: galon [ga'lon], end19c, via French, technical: not (or no longer) recognized as English.
  • Russian: gallon, beg19c, foreignism.
  • Bulgarian: galon, beg20c, foreignism.
  • Albanian: gallon, beg20c, technical: not (or no longer) recognized as English.
  • Greek: ghaloni, via Italian.,