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English

Pronunciation: /ˈɪŋglɪʃ/

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Definition of English

adjective

  • relating to England or its people or language.

noun

  • 1 [mass noun] the language of England, now widely used in many varieties throughout the world.
  • 2 (as plural noun the English) the people of England.
  • 3 [mass noun] North American spin or side given to a ball, especially in pool or billiards: put more English on the ball

English is the principal language of Great Britain, the US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries. There are some 400 million native speakers, and it is the medium of communication for many millions more: it is the most widely used second language in the world. It belongs to the West Germanic group of Indo-European languages, though its vocabulary has been much influenced by Norman French and Latin

Derivatives

Englishness

noun

Origin:

Old English Englisc (see Angle, -ish1). The word originally denoted the early Germanic settlers of Britain (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes), or their language (now called Old English)

English in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of English in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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