English
English
noun
/ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/
1 ​uncountable, countable the language, originally of England, now spoken in many other countries and used as a language of international communication throughout the world
She speaks good English.
I need to improve my English.
world Englishes
They taught conversational English to a group of Japanese students.
SEE ALSO Basic English, BBC English, British English, Estuary English, King’s English, Middle English, modern English, Old English, Queen’s English, world English
Culture World English
TOPICS Language A1
Collocations
adjective
plain
spoken
written
2 uncountable English language or literature as a subject of study
a degree in English
English is my best subject.
TOPICS Education A1
3 ​the English plural the people of England (sometimes wrongly used to mean the British, including the Scots, the Welsh and the Northern Irish)
Idioms
in plain English
Word Origin
Old English Englisc (from Angle, a Germanic people who came to England in 5th century AD + -ish). The word originally denoted the early Germanic settlers of Britain (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes), or their language (now called Old English).