About one-third of American words come from Latin or Greek. These have found their way into the language in several ways. Greek words have often found their way into English indirectly through Latin. Sometimes, they have been directly borrowed from Greek authors. Finally, sometimes Greek elements are combined in order to create new words, particularly in the sciences. In the case of Latin, some of these mechanisms have applied as well. Also, many Latin words have found their way to English through Romancelanguages, particularly French.
