The German contribution to the English vocabulary is more significant than has often been assumed and is characterised by a large proportion of technical and scientific terms. This study outlines the history of linguistic borrowing from German from the 16th century to the present day. It then examines the assimilation of the Germanisms in terms of their phonetic/graphemic, morphological and semantic integration. The stylistic effects achieved by the use of Germanisms are explored, and an attempt is made to assess the quantitative and qualitative impact of German on the English language. A final chapter by Jürgen Eichhoff describes the special circumstances affecting German influences on American English.