A West Germanic language with Norse and Norman French overlays — the most widely spoken language on Earth when second-language speakers are counted, and the de facto lingua franca of science, aviation, and the internet.
Where it’s spoken
English is an official language in 67 countries and over a billion people speak it as a second language. Major native varieties include British, American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Irish, and South African English, plus distinctive forms in Singapore, India, Nigeria, and the Caribbean.
What it sounds like
English has an unusually large vowel inventory — most dialects distinguish 12 to 20 vowel sounds. The “th” fricatives (think, this) are rare globally, and stress-timed rhythm gives English its characteristic cadence. Vowel shifts during the Renaissance left modern spelling badly misaligned with pronunciation.
How it’s written
English uses 26 Latin letters with no diacritics in standard orthography. The spelling is notoriously inconsistent because it preserves etymologies from Old English, French, Latin, and Greek — explaining puzzles like “knight,” “colonel,” and “through.”
History
English descends from Anglo-Saxon dialects brought to Britain in the 5th century. The 1066 Norman conquest layered in thousands of French words. The Great Vowel Shift (c. 1400–1700) reshaped pronunciation while the printing press froze spelling, producing the modern mismatch.
Find more languages by letter
English starts with E and ends with H. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "English":