Bengenese words are classified into three types according to their etymon (etymology).

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Inherited words

These are the words that evolved (had phonetic and spelling changes) directly from Early Bengenese, an ancient form of the language. Examples of these words are: hiss from pis, bag from begam, dul from durt, forde from foddet, fovindir from fovindýr, and graver from accraver.

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Derived words

These are the words that evolved (had phonetic and writing changes) from the existing languages in the Bengenese territory and its surroundings. These languages are: Romanian, Hungarian, Serbian (Serbo-Croatian), Danish, Russian, Czech and German. Most words in the language are classified as derived words.

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In terms of numbers, approximately 32% of the words are of Germanic origin, 29% of Slavic origin, 21% of Romance origin and 12% of Uralic origin.

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Borrowed words

These are words that were borrowed from languages that are not present in the Bengenese territory, generally more prestigious languages. Most loanwords come from English and Greek. Loans from Greek are specifically called learnt borrowings. Loanwords do not undergo as many phonetic changes as inherited and derived words. English loanwords, in informal contexts, are usually written and pronounced as they would be in English.