English

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the West Germanic language that originated in England and is now spoken in many countries around the world

   English is the main language used at the conference.

2. 2
   adj

   written or spoken in the English language, or relating to that language

   The museum provides English translations of every label.

3. 3
   adj

   of or relating to England, its people, or its culture

   The course explores English history from the Tudors to the present.

4. 4
   noun

   the people of England considered collectively

   In the census table, the English were listed separately from the Scots and the Welsh.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

English derives from the name of the Angles, a Germanic people who settled in Britain in the 5th century AD. Their name was extended to the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes collectively and to their language, now called Old English. The earliest known written form, Engliscne, appears in the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum, probably composed around 880.

From Middle English Englisch and English, from Old English Englisċ ("of the Angles"), formed from Engle ("the Angles") + -isċ, the ancestor of modern -ish. The same tribal name produced England, originally "land of the Angles." Angle is commonly connected with Angeln in present-day Schleswig-Holstein; the deeper origin of the place-name is uncertain.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary