English

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See also:english

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

FromMiddle EnglishEnglisch,English,Inglis,fromOld EnglishEnglisċ(“of the Angles; English”),fromEngle(“theAngles”),a Germanic tribe +‎-isċ;equivalent toEngle+‎-ish.CompareWest FrisianIngelsk,ScotsInglis(olderynglis),DutchEngels,Danishengelsk,Old FrenchEnglesche(whenceFrenchanglais),Germanenglisch,Spanishinglés,all ultimately derived fromProto-Indo-European*h₂enǵʰ-(“narrow”)(compareSanskritअंहु(áṃhu,“narrow”),अंहस्(áṃhas,“anxiety, sin”),Latinangustus(“narrow”),Old Church Slavonicѫзъкъ(ǫzŭkŭ,“narrow”)).

Pronunciation

Adjective

English(comparativemoreEnglish,superlativemostEnglish)

  1. Of or pertaining toEngland.
  2. English-language; of or pertaining to thelanguage,descended fromAnglo-Saxon,which developed in England.
    Those immigrants Anglicised their names to make them sound moreEnglish.
    • 2020,Abi Daré,The Girl With The Louding Voice,Sceptre, page187:
      Honest, honest,Englishis just a language of confusions.
  3. Of or pertaining to the people ofEngland(toEnglishmenandEnglishwomen).
  4. Of or pertaining to theavoirdupoissystem of measure.
    anEnglishton
  5. (Amish)Non-Amish,so named for speaking English rather than a variety of German.
  6. (film,television)Denoting averticalorientationof thebarn doors.
    Coordinate term:Chinese

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Noun

English(countableanduncountable,pluralEnglishorEnglishes)

  1. (in theplural)ThepeopleofEngland,EnglishmenandEnglishwomen.
    • 1979,Stormont Mancroft,Bees in Some Bonnets,p. 175:
      Cricket—a game which theEnglish,not being a spiritual people, have invented in order to give themselves some conception ofeternity.
    TheEnglishand theROTWhave a long history of conflict, periodically interrupted fortea.
  2. (Amish,in theplural)Thenon-Amish,peopleoutside theAmishfaithandcommunity.
  3. (uncountable)Facilitywith theEnglishlanguage,abilitytoemployEnglishcorrectlyandidiomatically.
    Sorry, myEnglishisn't very good.
  4. (uncountable)Aparticularinstanceof theEnglishlanguage,including
    1. TheEnglishtermorexpressionforsomethingoridea.
      What's theEnglishfor 'à peu près'?It depends:how is it being used?
    2. TheEnglishtextorphrasingofsomespokenorwrittencommunication.
      Thespecsare all correct, but theEnglishin the instructions isn't as clear as it should be.
    3. AclearandreadilyunderstandableexpressionofsomeideainEnglish.
      • 1994,Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore, “All Good Things...”, inStar Trek: The Next Generation,season 7, episodes25-26,Brent Spiner and Gates McFadden (actors):
        Data:I have completed my analysis of the anomaly. It appears to be a multi-phasic temporal convergence in the space-time continuum.
        Dr. Crusher:InEnglish,Data.
      Thank you, doctor. Now, please say that again inEnglish.
    4. Synonym oflanguage arts,theclassdedicatedtoimprovingprimaryandsecondary schoolstudents'masteryofEnglishand thematerialtaughtinsuchclasses.
      • 2018,Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes: Discipline-specific wordlists, collocations and word families for eight secondary subjects”, inJournal of English for Academic Purposes,volume35,→DOI,page109:
        This reflects that inEnglish,students learn a range of text types, such as procedures, editorials, poetry, and not just academic essays.
      I loved reading until 7th gradeEnglish.
  6. (printing,dated)Asizeoftypebetweenpica(12 point) andgreat primer(18 point),standardizedas 14-point.
  8. (uncountable,Canada,US)Alternative form ofenglish.
    You are putting too muchEnglishon the ball.

Usage notes

The use of the plural formEnglishesoccurred in early modern English but is only seldomly and exceptionally encountered in contemporary English. As with other collective demonyms, English is preceded by the definite article or some other determiner when referring to the people of England collectively.

Synonyms

Coordinate terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Proper noun

English(countableanduncountable,pluralEnglishes)

English (surname)on Wikipedia
English (places)on Wikipedia
  2. Thelanguageoriginating inEnglandbut now spoken in all parts of theBritish Isles,theCommonwealth of Nations,North America,and other parts of the world.
    Hyponyms:seeThesaurus:English language
    Englishis spoken here as an unofficial language and lingua franca.
    How do you say ‘à peu près’ inEnglish?
  3. Avariety,dialect,oridiolectof spoken and or written English.
    • 2003,Amy Tan,“Mother Tongue”, inThe Opposite of Fate:Memories of a Writing Life,page278:
      I began to write stories using all theEnglishesI grew up with: the English I spoke to my mother, which for lack of a better term might be described as “simple”; the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as “broken”; my translation of her Chinese, which could certainly be described as “watered down”; and what I imagined to be her translation of her Chinese if she could speak in perfect English, her internal language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure.
  4. English language, literature, composition as a subject of study
  5. An Englishsurnameoriginally denoting a non-Celtic or non-Danish person in Britain.
  6. A male or femalegiven name
  7. A number of places in theUnited States:
    1. A town, thecounty seatofCrawford County,Indiana;named for Indiana statesmanWilliam Hayden English.
    2. An unincorporated community inCarroll County,Kentucky.
    3. An unincorporated community inBrazoria County,Texas.
    4. An unincorporated community inRed River County,Texas.
    5. An unincorporated community inMcDowell County,West Virginia.

Usage notes

(language spoken in British Isles, North America, etc.):

  • As with the names of almost all languages,English,when it means "the English language", does not usually require an article. Hence: "Say it in plain English!"

Hypernyms

(language spoken in British Isles, North America, etc.):

Meronyms

See alsoThesaurus:English language

(language spoken in British Isles, North America, etc.):

(diachronic)

Derived terms

Terms derived fromEnglish(adjective and noun)
Terms derived fromEnglish(noun)
Terms derived fromEnglish(adjective)
Terms derived fromEnglish(verb)

Translations

Verb

English(third-person singular simple presentEnglishes,present participleEnglishing,simple past and past participleEnglished)

  2. (transitive;archaicorrare)To translate, adapt or render into English.
    • 1624,Democritus Junior [pseudonym;Robert Burton],The Anatomy of Melancholy:[…],2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire:[…]John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps,→OCLC:
      ,page 214 (2001reprint):
      […]severe prohibuit viris suis tum misceri feminas in consuetis suis menstruis, etc.I spare toEnglishthis which I have said.
    • 1901,The Speaker, the Liberal Review - Volume 3,page654:
      Mamma is an adaptation of a French farce by Mr. Sydney Grundy, made in the time when his chief claim to recognition as a playwright lay in his ingenious aptitude forEnglishingthe un-Englishable.
    • 2011,Colin Cheney, 'Where Should I Start with Tomas Tranströmer?':
      Here, the poems areEnglishedby twelve different translators

See also

Quotations

Further reading

Anagrams

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