Introduction
Italics are often used to make words look elegant, literary, or “foreign”. They exude a certain je ne sais quoi, which in French literally means “I don’t know what” but, in English, denotes an indefinable quality, charm, or appeal.
Italics can suddenly lend our humble English sentences an elevated sense of style. They can also create contrast.
There are pitfalls with this, however. If we keep dropping italicised words and phrases into our English sentences, it can interrupt flow and readability and, at the very least, be jarring for our audience.
When should foreign words be italicised?
As a rule of thumb, we italicise words and phrases that have not yet been assimilated into English.
Consider the French loanword vis-à-vis. It is used to compare or relate two things. For example, you may write, “I need to speak to Max vis-à-vis the meeting arrangements for Wednesday”, “What worries us is the competitive edge that foreign companies have vis-à-vis Australian businesses”, or “The American dollar is stronger vis-à-vis the Indonesian rupiah”.
In each of the above cases, vis-à-vis is italicised because it is not standard English in the sentence it appears in. Vis-à-vis is not yet fully absorbed into English, even though many of us may be familiar with the term. In many cases, however, a simpler word such as “about”, “regarding” or “compared with” will make the sentence flow more naturally.
Which loanwords no longer need italics?
In contrast, another borrowed expression from French, déjà vu, does not require italics. This is because it is well and truly absorbed into standard English and can be written without them. In fact, the expression is so well absorbed into English that it is written without accent marks either. So, in ordinary prose, you could write: “The announcement gave everyone a sense of deja vu”.
English continually absorbs loanwords from other languages, including barista, café, karaoke, sushi, pizza, satay, nasi goreng, rendang, spaghetti, pasta, croissant, kindergarten, ballet, and many more.
These are all examples of borrowed words, or loanwords, now common in English.
As evidence of this, each of these words is now in the English dictionary. As a rule of thumb, if a word appears in a reputable English dictionary, such as the Oxford English Dictionary or the Cambridge Dictionary, and is familiar to your intended readers, it usually does not require italics.
Should Aboriginal words be italicised in Australian English?
There are a couple of other tricks and traps to watch out for. When writing in Australian English, we do not italicise names or words from First Nations or Aboriginal languages, as they are Australian, not foreign, languages.
Examples of Aboriginal words used in English that should not be italicised include billabong (a stagnant pool or body of water attached to a river, from the Wiradjuri word bilabaŋ), boomerang (borrowed from the Dharug word bumarin), dingo (from the Dharug word dyingu), kookaburra (borrowed from the Wiradjuri language), wallaby (from the Dharug language), and quokka (from the Nyungar language).
Do Latin abbreviations e.g. and i.e. need italics?
We also shouldn’t overuse italics for common Latin abbreviations. Thus, we should write etc., i.e., and e.g., not etc., i.e., and e.g. However, if we are discussing the Latin word itself, the full word can be used in italics. For instance: “The abbreviation ‘etc.’ comes from the Latin phrase et cetera, meaning ‘and the rest’.”
While on the topic of Latin, use italics for full Latin words or phrases that are not yet standard English, such as ipso facto. For example, “If you were born in the United States, ipso facto you are an American citizen.”
Don’t use italics willy-nilly
Finally, we should not use italics too liberally.
Some writers italicise words incorrectly to suggest that a word is interesting, technical, newly introduced, exotic, emotionally significant, or perhaps unfamiliar to some readers.
Instead, we could use single quotation marks to draw attention to a word with special meaning. However, this should be used only when quoting a word or phrase someone else has used. For example: “She described the author of this blog as ‘witty but verbose’”.
If you are unsure whether a word should be italicised, a professional copyeditor can help apply the appropriate style for your audience, publication and variety of English.
– Marshall, Brisbane, May 2026