Definition of english language English language
We found 2 definitions of english language from 2 different sources.
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What does english language mean?
WordNet
Noun |
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| english language - an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch; the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries | ||
| English, English language | ||
| west germanic, west germanic language a branch of the Germanic languages | ||
| american english, american language, american the English language as used in the United States | ||
| cockney the nonstandard dialect of natives of the east end of London | ||
| geordie the nonstandard dialect of natives of Newcastle-upon-Tyne | ||
| king's english, queen's english English as spoken by educated persons in southern England | ||
| received pronunciation the approved pronunciation of British English; originally based on the King's English as spoken at public schools and at Oxford and Cambridge Universities (and widely accepted elsewhere in Britain); until recently it was the pronunciation of English used in British broadcasting | ||
| middle english English from about 1100 to 1450 | ||
| modern english English since about 1450 | ||
| old english, anglo-saxon English prior to about 1100 | ||
| oxford english the dialect of English spoken at Oxford University and regarded by many as affected and pretentious | ||
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Wikipedia 
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The English language is the language started by tribes that moved to Britain from West Germany around 450 AD. Languages started by the German tribes are called Germanic languages. English is spoken in many countries around the world. With around 380 million native speakers, it is the second most spoken language in the world. About 220 million more people speak it as a second language and there are as many as a billion people who are learning. English has been an influence on, and has been influenced by many different languages.
History.
English began in England, a country on the island of Great Britain in Europe. Germanic tribes (Saxons, Angles, and Jutes) came to Britain from around 449 AD. They made their home in the south and east of the island, pushing out the Celtic Britons who were there before them. The Germanic dialects of these different tribes became "Old English". The word "English" was then and that comes from the name of the Angles - "Englas". Old English did not sound or look much like the English we speak today. If English speakers today were to hear or read a passage in Old English, they might understand a few words, but it would be very hard for most to understand what the passage is about.
Many other people came to England later at different times, speaking different languages, and these languages added more words to make today's English.
For example, around 800 AD, many Danish and Norse pirates, also called Vikings, came to the country and English received
