English Definition
English
See also english
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English
Etymology
From Middle English, from Old English Englisċ (“of the Angles”), from Engle (“the Angles”), a Germanic tribe.
Pronunciation
- enPR: ĭng'glĭsh, IPA: /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/, /ˈiŋɡlɪʃ/, SAMPA: /"INglIS/
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Audio (US) (file) -
Audio (UK) (file) - Hyphenation: Eng‧lish
Adjective
English (comparative more English, superlative most English)
- English-language; of or pertaining to the English language.
- Of or pertaining to England or its people.
- Of or pertaining to an Englishman or Englishwoman.
- Of or pertaining to the avoirdupois system of measure.
- an English ton
Proper noun
English
- The language originating in England but now spoken in all parts of the British Isles, the Commonwealth of Nations, the United States of America, and other parts of the world.
- English is spoken here as an unofficial language and lingua franca.
- (collective plural) The people of England; Englishmen and Englishwomen.
- The Scottish and English have a history of conflict.
Usage notes
- The name of the language, English, when it means "the English language", does not assume an article.
- The people as a collective noun requires the definite article "the" or a demonstrative adjective.
Translations
the English language
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
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Noun
English (usually uncountable; plural Englishes)
- One’s ability to employ the English language correctly.
- My coworker has pretty good English for a non-native speaker.
- The English-language term or expression for something.
- What’s the English for ‘à peu près’?
- Specific language or wording; a text or statements in speech, whether a translation or otherwise.
- The technical details are correct, but the English is not very clear.
- (countable) A regional type of spoken and or written English; a dialect.
Translations
one’s ability to employ the English language
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Verb
English (third-person singular simple present Englishes, present participle Englishing, simple past and past participle Englished)
- (transitive) (archaic) To translate, adapt or render into English.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York 2001, p. 214:
- [...] severe prohibuit viris suis tum misceri feminas in consuetis suis menstruis, etc. I spare to English this which I have said.
- 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York 2001, p. 214:
Derived terms
Terms derived from the adjective, noun, proper noun, or verb EnglishSee also
- English (disambiguation) on Wikipedia. Wikipedia
- English language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:English language
- English literature on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:English literature
- English studies on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:English studies
- English people on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:English people
- Wiktionary's coverage of English terms
Quotations
- For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.
Statistics
External links
- ISO 639-1 code , ISO 639-3 code (SIL)
- Ethnologue entry for English,
Anagrams
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