Standard English

Students with a pronounced Midland South dialect are required to take a course teaching them to speak and write in Standard English.

A debate rages on whether or not the singular they constitutes Standard English usage.

(linguistics) The form of the English language widely accepted as the usual correct form.

প্রমিত ইংরেজী

the form of the English language widely accepted as the usual correct form


Tabasaran

A Northeast-Caucasian language spoken by the Tabasaran people who live in southern Dagestan.


Sino-Vietnamese

Pertaining to the Chinese-derived elements in the Vietnamese language.

漢越 /汉越

pertaining to the Chinese-derived elements in the Vietnamese language


Sino-Vietnamese

The Chinese-derived elements in the Vietnamese language.

漢越詞 /汉越词

the Chinese-derived elements in the Vietnamese language


Jingpho

The Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Kachin State, Myanmar, and also in China.


Pecheneg

/ˈpɛt͡ʃənɛɡ/

Borrowed from Russian печене́г (pečenég).

[…]these loanwords are later borrowings from the Pecheneg and Comanian, respectively.

1991, Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi, Volume 7, Peter de Ridder Press, page 286:

(historical) The now extinct Turkic language spoken by the Pechenegs.


Tocharian

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

From Latin Tochari + -ian, from Ancient Greek Τόχαροι (Tókharoi, “Kucheans”) (see Τόχαρος (Tókharos)), probably from an Indo-Iranian source (Old Persian [script needed] (tuxāri-), Khotanese [script needed] (ttahvāra)); compare Sanskrit तुखार (tukhāra).

der

(linguistics) An extinct branch of the Indo-European language family, consisting of two languages, Tocharian A and Tocharian B, written in an abugida derived from Brahmi.


Birgit

A Chadic language spoken in southeastern Chad.


Sherpa

Sherpa (emissary)
Sherpa language
Sherpa people

The Southern Tibetan language of these people.


Rarotongan

Cook Islands Maori, the official language of the Cook Islands.


Cook Islands Maori

The official language of the Cook Islands.


West Frisian

A language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands; one of the Frisian languages (or language varieties).


Ligurian

The Gallo-Italic language of this region.


Middle Dutch

(3) West Germanic, which is composed of:—
[...]
(d) Low Franconian, called Old Low Franconian or Old Dutch until about 1200; Middle Low Franconian or Middle Dutch from 1200 to 1500; from 1500 onwards New Low Franconian, including Dutch, Flemish, Brabantish, and Limburgish.

1907, Joseph Wright, Historical German Grammar: Vol. I: Phonology, Word-Formation and Accidence, page 7:

Old Low Franconian is the ancestor of modern Dutch, Flemish, Brabantish and Limburgish. It is called Old Low Franconian to c. 1100; Middle Low Franconian or Middle Dutch, from 1100 to 1600; from 1600 onwards, New Low Franconian or New Dutch.

1923 (reprinted 1948), Arthur Kirk, An Introduction to the Historical Study of New High German (Publications of the University of Manchester: Germanic Series; No. II), page 10:

One can distinguish four major dialect groups of Middle Dutch: (a) Flemish, which was spoken in the region of Flanders, and Zeeuws, spoken in Zeeland; (b) Brabantic, used in the area of Brussels, Louvain, Antwerp, Mechlin, and Breda; (c) Hollandic, the dialect of the county of Holland; and (d) Limburgic, the language used in the easter part of the Middle Dutch territory. The first three dialect groups may be referred to as West Franconian, while Limburgic is known as East Franconian.

1993, Colette M. van Kerckvoorde, An Introduction to Middle Dutch, Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter (a division of Walter de Gruyter & Co.), page 1:

Collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects (whose ancestor was Old Dutch) which were spoken and written between 1150 and 1500 in the present-day Dutch-speaking area. There was at that time as yet no overarching standard language, but they were all mutually intelligible.


Old Dutch

The earliest extant material in Old Low Franconian (or Old Dutch) is from the 9th century (psalm fragments translated in or around the south of Limburg, i.e. the south-east corner of the Netherlands).

1989, Hans Frede Nielsen, The Germanic Languages: Origins and Early Dialectal Interrelations, The University of Alabama Press, page 2f:

The earliest extant material in Old Dutch (or Old Low Franconian) is from the ninth century (psalm fragments translated in or around the south of Limburg, i.e. the south-east corner of the Netherlands).

1998, Hans Frede Nielsen, The Continental Backgrounds of English and its Insular Development until 1154, Odense University Press, page 43:

A branch of Old Low Franconian, with a Frisian substrate, spoken and written during the Middle Ages (c. 9th to 12th century) in the Netherlands and the northern part of present-day Belgium, as well as in areas of northern France along the North Sea coast and adjoining Belgium. This language represents the first attested stage of the Dutch language and its dialects, being succeeded by Middle Dutch in the later Middle Ages.


Ripuarian

/ˌɹɪp.juˈɛə.ɹɪən/

From Medieval Latin Ripuarius (perhaps from Latin ripa (“river bank”)) + -an.

A West Central German dialect group, spoken in the northern Rhineland (including the cities of Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Aachen), as well as parts of German-speaking Belgium and south-eastern Limburg (Netherlands); linguistically, the least affected by the consonant shift of all High German dialects


Teochew

From Teochew 潮州 (dio⁵ ziu¹). See also Hokkien 潮州 (Tiô-chiu).

[…] Lim Peng Siang, Low Kim Pong, Teo Sian Keng and Lee Choon Guan were leaders of Fukien dialect group; Lam Kim Seng, Chua Tse Yong were Teochew leaders; Loke Yew and Lam Wai Fong were Cantonese leaders.

1995, Qinghuang Yan, Community and Politics: The Chinese in Colonial Singapore and Malaysia, Marshall Cavendish International, →ISBN:

'I do not speak English,' the young man said sanguinely in Malay, then said it again in Teochew, to test the white man.

2015, William L. Gibson, Singapore Yellow, Singapore: Monsoon Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 116:

A variety of Southern Min Chinese, spoken in the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong and its diaspora.

潮州話 /潮州话

one of the divisions of the Chinese language


Old Latin

The Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin; particularly Latin before 75 BC.


Karo

The indigenous people of the Karo Plateau in North Sumatra.


Karo

A Nilotic language of Uganda, South Sudan and the DRC.


Vai

The Niger-Congo language of the Vai people of Liberia and Sierra Leone.


Biak

From Indonesian (bahasa) Biak (“Biak language”), from Biak wós Vyak. Also known in Biak as wós kovedi (“our language”).

A language spoken on this island and others near it.


Guoyu

From Mandarin 國語／国语 (guóyǔ, literally “nation-language” or “country-language”).

zh-l

The standardized spoken Chinese language, also referred to as Standard Mandarin. The term remains in common use in the Republic of China (Taiwan) and colloquially in Hong Kong (along with Putonghua). In mainland China, Guoyu or Taiwan Guoyu is used to refer to Taiwanese Mandarin (standard), as opposed to mainland standard Mandarin.


Yawuru

A Nyulnyulan language of the indigenous people of Western Australia.


Marti Ke

An indigenous language of Australia's Northern Territory near Wadeye.


Amurdag

An indigenous language of Australia's Northern Territory.


Megleno-Romanian

From Romanian meglenoromân, corresponding to Meglenitic + Romanian.

An endangered Eastern Romance language spoken in northern Greece, North Macedonia and parts of Romania, and related to Romanian, Aromanian and Istro-Romanian.


Daco-Romanian

The standard Romanian language, distinguished from the Aromanian (Macedo-Romanian), Megleno-Romanian and Istro-Romanian languages.

dakorumenskt

more specific name for the standard Romanian language


Istro-Romanian

An endangered Eastern Romance language spoken in the Istrian region of Croatia, and related to Romanian, Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian.


Hawaiʻian

Today Molokaʻi is often called the Friendly Isle, possibly due to the fact that the largest population of Native Hawaiians live there. Historically, Molokaʻi has been a place for the spiritual leaders of the Hawaiʻian culture to gather.

2007, Jake Goldberg, Joyce Hart, “Geography: The Island State”, in Hawaiʻi (Juvenile Literature), Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 19:

(Hawaii) Alternative spelling of Hawaiian


Macedo-Romanian

gjuha maqedorumune

Aromanian, the Aromanian language — see also Aromanian

The Megleno-Romanian language (sometimes)


Lipan

The Athabascan language these people speak.


Laz

A Kartvelian language of Turkey and Caucasian Georgia, related to Georgian, Mingrelian, and Svan.


Baagandji

A Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal suffixing language spoken on the Darling River.


Proto-Slavic

(linguistics) A hypothetical, reconstructed language whence all the Slavic languages later descended.

Common Slavonic

more accurately referring to a late form of Proto-Slavic

Old Slavonic

may also refer to Old East Slavic or Old Church Slavonic


Proto-Celtic

The putative ancestor of all the known Celtic languages.


Proto-Oceanic

A proposed common ancestor of the group of Oceanic languages.


Prakrit

/ˈpɹɑː.kɹɪt/

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit प्राकृत (prākṛta).

lbor

Online Etymology Dictionary
w:Online Etymology Dictionary

Any one of several Middle Indo-Aryan languages, all derived from dialects of Old Indo-Aryan languages.

պրակրիտ

any of Middle Indo-Aryan languages, derived from dialects of Old Indo-Aryan languages


Proto-Balto-Slavic

(linguistics) The hypothetical ancestor language or protolanguage of Baltic and Slavic languages, descending from Proto-Indo-European.


Dakotan

The language of the native Dakota people.


Galatian

/ɡəˈleɪ.ʃən/

The now-extinct Celtic language of this tribe.


Wathawurung

An Australian Aboriginal language of the Pama-Nyungan family.


Bactrian

An extinct Eastern Iranian language which was spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria, also called Tocharistan, in northern Afghanistan.


Tanglish

A variety of English spoken by native Tamil speakers.


Europanto

/jʊəɹ.əˈpæn.təʊ/

A blend from Latin Eurōpa (“Europe”) + Ancient Greek πᾰντός (păntós), from πᾶς (pâs, “all, whole”). Literally, “all Europe”.

An artificial language originally created by Diego Marani in 1996, combining vocabulary from a number of European languages.


Old Tupi

An extinct Tupian language which was spoken by the native Tupi people of Brazil.


Vogul

The Finno-Ugric language spoken in Khantia-Mansia.


Tocharian A

(linguistics) The eastern member of the Tocharian branch of Indo-European languages, extinct since the ninth century. Once spoken in the Tarim Basin in Central Asia.


Tocharian B

(linguistics) The western member of the Tocharian branch of Indo-European languages, extinct since the ninth century. Once spoken in the Tarim Basin in Central Asia.


Massachusett

A Native American tribe who traditionally live in the Massachusetts Bay area in the state of Massachusetts.


Wampanoag

en-noun

Wampanoag (plural Wampanoags or Wampanoag)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Wampanoag.wav

A member of a current Native American nation currently consisting of five affiliated tribes.


Mirandese

My example is taken from the Portuguese dialect of Mirandese, more specifically Mirandese as spoken in the area of Sendim[…]

1974, R. Joe Campbell, Mark G. Goldin, Mary Clayton Wang, editors, Linguistic studies in Romance languages: Proceedings, page 41:

An endangered Romance language spoken in the northeastern corner of Portugal, principally in the municipalities of Miranda do Douro and Vimioso.


Guro

A language of the Mande family spoken in the Ivory Coast.


Pyu

The Tibeto-Burman language of this people.


Luwian

From Luwia, part of Asia Minor, + -ian. For the first element see Ancient Greek Λυδός (Ludós).

an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken in the 2nd millennium BC and recorded in both hieroglyphic and cuneiform scripts.


Polabian

From the name of Polabian tribes, which in turn derives from the name of the Elbe river in Slavic languages (cp. Polish Łaba, Czech Labe), and possibly ultimately from Proto-Slavic *po.

A West Slavic language, extinct in the 18th century.


Yankunytjatjara

From Yankunytjatjara Yankunytjatjara, from yankunytja + tjara, literally 'having (the word) "yankunytja" (as opposed to the word pitjantja)'.

An Aboriginal language (or dialect), mainly spoken in central Australia and belonging to the Western Desert language group (or language), which in turn belongs to the Pama-Nyungan subfamily.


Wayuu

The Arawak language of the Wayuu people.


Chukchi

From Russian чу́кчи (čúkči), plural of чу́кча (čúkča), derived from Chukchi [script needed] (chauchu), meaning "rich in reindeer".

(uncountable) A Paleosiberian language spoken by Chukchi people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.


Lampung

A lect of the Indonesian province of Lampung, which is either a language with two main dialects, or a macrolanguage encompassing two or three separate languages, including Abung.


Pampango

From Spanish pampango, from Kapampangan pampang (“river bank”) + -o.


Aiton

A Tai language spoken in India and written in a version of the Burmese abugida.


Mycenaean Greek

The most ancient attested form of the Greek language, spoken on the Greek mainland and on Crete in the 16th to 11th centuries BC, written in Linear B script.


Swiss German

Today, it is probably true to say that both varieties have positive prestige but for different reasons and to differing extents: attitudes to Swiss German, as the unifying vernacular that gives the German-Swiss their identity, are positive in every respect, while Swiss standard German enjoys widespread prestige only as a written form that enables them to be part of the international German-speaking community […].

1990, Stephen Barbour, Patrick Stevenson, Variation in German: A Critical Approach to German Sociolinguistics, page 213:

We do not intend this book to serve as a complete course in Swiss German; rather, it serves as a supplement to those studying the language in a more formal way.

2004, Harald Fuchs, Paul G. Schreier, Züritüütsch isch aifach schön, page xi:

The varieties of Alemannic German spoken in Switzerland.

Swiss Standard German
Swiss Standard German

(loosely) Any local form of the German language used in Switzerland; Swiss Standard German.


Swiss German

A German-speaking person from Switzerland.


Swiss German

en-adj

Swiss German (comparative more Swiss German, superlative most Swiss German)

more Swiss German (comparative)
most Swiss German (superlative)

Pertaining to the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

Two years ago, there was an uproar in the local media after Coop ran an advertising campaign that used the High German word for "to barbecue", grillen, rather than the Swiss German grillieren.

2014 February 14, Philip Oltermann, The Guardian:

Of or relating to one or all of the languages.


Proto-Semitic

The hypothetical protolanguage of Semitic languages.


Llanito

From Spanish Llanitos (“people of the flatlands”), or from Italian Gianni (“Johnny”).

uder

A vernacular spoken primarily in Gibraltar, based on a mix of Andalusian Spanish and English, but also influenced by Genoese, Hebrew, Portuguese, Italian and Maltese.


Llanito

Spanglish

a generic term for English/Spanish interlanguage


Balochi

A Northwestern Iranian language spoken mainly in SW Pakistan (80% of speakers), SE Iran and S Afghanistan. SIL standard divides Balochi into three related languages, Eastern Balochi, Southern Balochi and Western Balochi.


Eastern Balochi

A variety of the Balochi language, spoken mainly in Pakistan, where it has about 1.5 million speakers.


Southern Balochi

A variety of the Balochi language spoken mainly in Pakistan, where it has about 3 million speakers, and in Iran (0.5 million).


Western Balochi

A variety of Balochi language, spoken in Pakistan (more than 1 million speakers), Iran (0.5 million), Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.


Old Persian

The oldest reliably dated citation is part of the Behistun inscription of Darius the Great (died 486 B.C.), which is given in transliterated Old Persian in the entry for Aryan.

2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 492:

The ancestor language of Middle Persian, and via it of New Persian language. Attested in Old Persian cuneiform, in the period 525 B.C.E. - 300 B.C.E..


Ch'orti'

The Mayan language spoken by these people.


Rapa Nui

/ˈɹɑːpɑː ˈnuːɪ/

Easter Island
Rapa Nui language
Rapa Nui people

An Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the inhabitants of Easter Island.


Baruga

A language spoken by about 2,000 people in Papua New Guinea


Ancient Macedonian

The Hellenic language of Ancient Macedonians, probably related to Ancient Greek, spoken in Macedon from 808 BCE till 168 BCE


Eblaite

(historical) An extinct Semitic language spoken in the 3rd millennium BCE, primarily in the ancient city of Ebla, which is located in modern Syria. It was written in cuneiform script and is considered to be the oldest written Semitic language.


Ammonite

[ˈɛə̯mɪ̈nʌɪ̯t̚]


Ammonite

[ˈɛə̯mɪ̈nʌɪ̯t̚]

The extinct Canaanite language of the Ammonite people who used to live in modern-day northwest Jordan, and after whom its capital Amman is named. Extinct since 5th century BCE.


Old East Slavic

(historical) A Slavic language used from the 10th to the 14th centuries by East Slavs in the state of Kievan Rus and its successors. The ancestor of Belarusian, Russian, Rusyn and Ukrainian.

Old Ukrainian

specific to Ukrainian or dialects different from common OES

Old Belarusian

specific to Belarusian or dialects different from common OES


Rusyn

From Carpathian Rusyn руси́н (rusýn), from Old East Slavic Русь (Rusĭ, “Rus”). Compare Ruthenia.

A member of a people living in the eastern Carpathian Mountains, in part of western Ukraine, south-eastern Poland and north-eastern Slovakia.

(archaic) An ethnonym for East Slavic people - any of Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, an inhabitant of Kievan Rus, Muscovy, etc., an Orthodox, East Slavic inhabitant of Rzeczpospolita.


Rusyn

The Eastern Slavic language spoken by the Carpatho-Rusyns.


Rusyn

en-adj

Rusyn (comparative more Rusyn, superlative most Rusyn)

more Rusyn (comparative)
most Rusyn (superlative)

Of or pertaining to the Rusyn people, culture, or language.

русі́нскі

of or pertaining to the Rusyn people, culture, or language


Illyrian

Scholars divide the great bulk of the Slavic languages into two branches […] The south-eastern or eastern division contains the Russian, Bulgarian, and Illyrian languages

1855, “Europe”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, Eighth Edition, volume 9, page 391:

The Slavic dialect used was examined by a very gifted poet, Gion Palmotich (1606–1657) , who attempts to identify the Dalmatian or Illyrian language (i. e., Serbo-Kroatian) with the Czech of Bohemia, which had been recognized by Charles the Fourth, in his Golden Bull (1355), as necessary for imperial princes to learn.

1919, Paul Rankov Radosavljevich, Who are the Slavs? A Contribution to Race Psychology, pages 198–199:

The preface contains a defense of the Illyrian language and a list of the major Slavic “dialects” (Russian, Polish, Bohemian, Illyrian).

2016, Edward Stankiewicz, Grammars and Dictionaries of the Slavic Languages from the Middle Ages Up to 1850: An Annotated Bibliography, page 80:

(historical or obsolete) Of or in the Serbo-Croatian language.


Illyrian

An extinct Indo-European language or group of languages spoken in modern Southeast Europe, in the western half of the Balkan Peninsula.

(historical or obsolete) The Serbo-Croatian language.


Illyrian

(obsolete) A South Slav, especially a Croat, used in 17th-19th centuries.


Roma

From Latin and Italian Roma (“Rome”). Doublet of Rome and Rum.

A female given name from Latin of English-speakers.


bopomofo

Borrowed from Mandarin ㄅㄆㄇㄈ (bōpōmōfō), from the first four letters: ㄅ (bō), ㄆ (pō), ㄇ (mō), ㄈ (fō).

Name for Zhuyin Fuhao used by ISO and Unicode.


Zhuyin fuhao

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 注音符號 /注音符号 (zhùyīn fúhào, literally “symbol(s) for annotation of sounds”).

bor

A phonetic alphabet used to transcribe Mandarin for students of that language and for inputting Chinese, now used primarily only in Taiwan. Variants also exist for other Chinese lects spoken in Taiwan.

注音符号

ちゅういんふごう, chūin fugō, ちゅうおんふごう, chūon fugō


Mauritian Creole

The creole language spoken in Mauritius, stemming from French, with some vocabulary from diverse sources such as English and Portuguese.


Angloromani

A mixed language spoken in Britain, having an English-based grammar and Romani-based lexicon.

Angloromani

mixed language with an English-based grammar and Romani-based lexicon


Argobba

(linguistics) An Ethiopian Semitic language spoken in an area north-east of Addis Ababa by the Argobba people.


Lenape

Endless generations of Lenape stretching down the lines of the past—changed, though not destroyed, by colonialism.

2020, N. K. Jemisin, The City We Became, Orbit, page 299:

A group of aboriginal Americans who were living in what is now New Jersey and along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, the coast of Delaware, and the lower Hudson Valley and New York Harbor in New York, at the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.


Lenape

The languages (Munsee, Unami) spoken by all of this group; Delaware

The language spoken in the southern range of this group in coastal Delaware, southern New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania; Unami.


Papuan

A geographical grouping of languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and its neighboring islands, as opposed to Austronesian.


Dungan

From Turkic [Term?], probably via Russian, originally referring to any Hui Chinese. It is an exonym. Chinese scholar Lin Tao (林涛) lists possible etymologies in the first chapter of Donggan yü lungao (东干语论稿, 2007):
* From Chinese 東甘 /东甘 (dōng Gān, literally “Eastern Gan[su]”).
* From Chinese 敦煌 (Dūnhuáng, “Dunhuang”, in Gansu).
* From Chinese 潼關 /潼关 (Tóngguān, “Tong Pass”, in Gansu), early site of Bai Yanhu's activity.
* From Turkic [Term?] (turupqaighan, literally “staying behind”).
* From Chinese 東岸 /东岸 (dōng'àn, literally “eastern coast; or perhaps, eastern side”), in reference to the Fen River.
Hai Feng (海峰) proposes in a 2005 paper (https://www.cnki.com.cn/article/cjfdtotal-saga20050100e.htm) that it is from Chinese 屯墾 /屯垦 (túnkěn), from late Qing policy regarding Xinjiang.

cog

The Sinitic language of this people, a Mandarin dialect written in the Cyrillic script.

хуэйзў йүян

回族語言／回族语言 (huízú yǔyán)


Lydian

An extinct Indo-European language in the Anatolian subgroup.


Carian

/ˈkɛː.ɹɪ.ən/

/ˈkɛə.ɹɪ.ən/


Dharruk

A suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.


Yabim

The Malayo-Polynesian language of the Yabim people.


Ter Sami

One of the languages spoken by the Sami people, now moribund.


Kemi Sami

One of the languages once spoken by the Sami people, now extinct.


Akkala Sami

A language, once spoken by the Sami people, that became extinct in 2003.


Mara

From Hebrew מָרָא (mara, “bitterness”), derived from Hebrew מַר (mar, “bitter”). The modern given name may also be shortened from Maria or Tamara.

Call me not Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ruth 1:20:


Proto-Afroasiatic

(linguistics) The hypothetical ancestor language or protolanguage of Afroasiatic languages.

proto-afro-asiatique

ancestor language of Afroasiatic languages


Ghotuo

A language in the Niger-Congo language family, spoken in the Edo State region of Nigeria.


Celtiberian

Celtiberian
Celtiberian language
Celtiberians
Celtic languages

An extinct Indo-European language of the Celtic branch spoken by these people in an area of the Iberian Peninsula lying between the headwaters of the Duero, Tajo, Júcar and Turia rivers and the Ebro river.


Middle Welsh

The Welsh language as spoken from the 12th to the 14th century.


Santali

The Austroasiatic language spoken by the Santals.


Gutnish

From Swedish gotländsk (“from Gotland”). Equivalent to Got(land) + -ish.

The native language of the island of Gotland in present-day Sweden, used both as a spoken and written language until late medieval times.


Croato-Serbian

/kɹəʊˌeɪtəʊˈsɜː(ɹ)biən/


Croato-Serbian

/kɹəʊˌeɪtəʊˈsɜː(ɹ)biən/


Kalami

A Dardic language spoken in northern Pakistan; it is written using the Arabic script.


Dena'ina

Borrowed from Dena'ina Denaʼina (literally “the people”).

bor

The Northern Athabascan language spoken by this tribe.


Eurasiatic

A hypothetical superfamily of languages proposed by Joseph Greenberg that groups together several language families of Europe, Asia, and North America, namely Etruscan, Indo-European, Uralic-Yukaghir, Altaic, Korean-Japanese-Ainu, Nivkh, Chukotian and Eskimo-Aleut.


Luorawetlan

The Chukchi language, of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family.


Luoravetlan

Chukchi language of Chukotko-Kamchatkan family


BNC

British National Corpus
w:British National Corpus

(linguistics) Initialism of British National Corpus.


Proto-Turkic

A hypothetical proto-language from which Old Turkic and all the other Turkic languages later emerged.

proto-turc

hypothetical prehistoric ancestor language


Old Turkic

The earliest attested Turkic language, found in inscriptions by the Göktürks and the Uyghurs in ca. the 7th to 13th centuries.


Alutor

Borrowed from Russian алю́торский (aljútorskij), short for алю́торский язы́к (aljútorskij jazýk).

A language of Russia that belongs to the Chukchi-Koryak group of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages.


Austrian German

A national standard variety of the German language that is spoken and written in Austria and Bolzano-Bozen (Italy).


Sranan Tongo

Borrowed from Sranan Tongo Sranan Tongo, from Sranan (“Suriname”) + tongo (“tongue, language”).

An English-based creole language and lingua franca in Suriname; its approximately 126,000 native speakers are predominantly ethnic Creoles.


Tlahuica

An indigenous language spoken by the Matlatzinca people in the southern part of the State of Mexico.


Burgundian

/bɜːˈɡʌndɪən/

/bɜːɹˈɡʌndɪən/

From Burgundy + -an. Compare Old English Burgendan (“Burgundians”).

The extinct East Germanic language of the Burgundians.


Ingush

From Russian Ингуши (Inguši), from Ангушт (Angušt), a former important settlement of the people.

The language of the Ingush, a member of the Nakh family.


Kalmyk

Transliteration of Russian калмы́к m anim sg (kalmýk, noun), itself a Turkic exonym ultimately from Proto-Turkic *kiāl-mak (“to stay behind”, literally “those who stayed behind”).

der

A Mongolic language, spoken in and around Kalmykia in Russia.


Izhorian

Ultimately from Ingrian ižorat (“Izhorians”).


Tuvan

A Turkic language spoken around the area of Tuva.


Buryat

A Mongolic language spoken around Buryatia.


Biloxi

Biloxi language
Biloxi people
Biloxi, Mississippi

A city in and one of the two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States.


Bikol

The language of the native inhabitants of the Bicol Region, Bikol Central.


Taos

From Spanish Taos (“Taos”), from Taos tə̂o (“village”), as in tə̂otho (“in the village”) or tə̂obo (“to the village”).

A town, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico, south of Taos Pueblo.


Saba

From Latin Saba, from Ancient Greek Σάβα (Sába), from Hebrew שְׁבָא (Šəḇā).

Hebrew שְׁבָא (Šəḇā)

Sheba: an ancient civilization in South Arabia (now Yemen), and crossing the Red Sea into the Horn of Africa.


Central Atlas Tamazight

A Berber language spoken by some three million people in central Morocco.


Interglossa

From Latin inter- + Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “language”).

constructed language
constructed language

An constructed language devised by Lancelot Hogben (1895-1975).


Dutton World Speedwords

Invented by Reginald J. G. Dutton (1886-1970) in 1922.

A constructed language used as both an international auxiliary language and a shorthand system.


Láadan

From Láadan Láadan, created by Suzette Haden Elgin in 1982.

A constructed language designed as an experiment in feminist linguistics.


Glosa

Based on Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “tongue, mother language”).

A constructed language intended to be used by the global scientific community.


Kiowa

A language of the Kiowa-Tanoan language family.

A place in the United States:
A minor city in Barber County, Kansas.

An unincorporated community in Glacier County, Montana.

A ghost town in Thayer County, Nebraska.

Pittsburg County
Pittsburg County#English

A place in the United States:
A town in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma.


Blissymbols

In the 1970s, disabled people who couldn't write or speak—such as those with cerebral palsy—used Blissymbols to communicate by point to the drawings on a large board. It was time-consuming and required a person who knew Blissymbols to help translate.

2020, Carla Sinclair, Girl Genius, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 139:

A constructed language using ideographs invented by Charles K. Bliss after the Second World War.


Kotava

a constructed language invented by Staren Fetcey, who began the project in 1975.


Romanova

A constructed language based on Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese.


Church Slavonic

A liturgical language of various Slavic church traditions, with dialectal basis of Old Church Slavonic mixed with vernacular lexical and phonological developments.


Swazi

From Zulu iSwazi, after the name of an early chief, Mswati. The alternative forms come from Swazi liSwati.

A Bantu language primarily spoken in Swaziland/Eswatini and the South African regions adjacent to it.


Southern Ndebele

An African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the Ndebele or Matabele people of South Africa.


Northern Ndebele

An African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the Ndebele or Matabele people of Zimbabwe.


Nyanja

He laughed. Her Nyanja wasnʼt bad. ‘You were born here?’

2019, Namwali Serpell, The Old Drift, Hogarth, page 405:


Luba-Katanga

Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo

a language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mostly in the south-east.


Hiri Motu

An official language of Papua New Guinea. It is a pidgin based primarily on Motu.


Canadian French

The Design on Lequesne, supposing all to have been honest that produced it, could have taken it's Rise from nothing but want of Knowledge in common Geography: No Eye that follows the Course in the Map, which is always taken by the Canadian French from Quebec to Fort Lequesne, but must be necessarily convinced that the taking Niagara would have answered all the Purposes of possessing that and Lequesne.

1755, John Shebbeare, A Letter to the People of England: On the Present Situation and Conduct of National Affairs, volume 1, page 42:


Canadian French

en-adj

Canadian French (comparative more Canadian French, superlative most Canadian French)

more Canadian French (comparative)
most Canadian French (superlative)


Canadian French

The French language as spoken by Francophones in Canada.


Swabian

An Upper German dialects of High German chiefly spoken in the region of Swabia.


Newfoundland English

Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador

The form of English spoken in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.


Palaic

From Pala (“a region in Anatolia northwest of Hattusa”) + -ic.

suffix

An extinct Indo-European language belonging to Anatolian branch, attested in cuneiform tablets in Bronze Age Hattusa.


Carolinian

/ˌkæɹəˈlɪniən/

Northern Mariana Islands
Northern Mariana Islands

An Austronesian language, one of the official languages of the Northern Mariana Islands.


Menominee

en-noun

Menominee (plural Menominees or Menominee)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Menominee.wav

Borrowed from Ojibwe manoominii (literally “wild-rice people”); from Ojibwe manoomin.

bor

A member of a nation of Native Americans indigenous to what is now Wisconsin.


Menominee

Jo Daviess County
Jo Daviess County#English

A village in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States.

Menominee County
Menominee County#English

A city, the county seat of Menominee County, Michigan, United States.

An unincorporated community in Cedar County, Nebraska, United States.

A town in Menominee County, Wisconsin, United States, which is coextensive with and consolidated with the county.


Atayal

Their Austronesian language, which uses the Latin alphabet.


ǂHõã

ǂHõã (isolate, genetically unassigned)

2001, Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages, Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal, →ISBN, page 83:

Unclassified Isolates
28 ǂHõã

2007, Matthias Brenzinger, Language Diversity Endangered, page 189:

Alternative form of ǂHoan (Khoisan language of Botswana).


Germanize

en-verb

Germanize (third-person singular simple present Germanizes, present participle Germanizing, simple past and past participle Germanized)

Germanizes (present singular third-person)
Germanizing (participle present)
Germanized (participle past)
Germanized (past)

to Germanize a province, a language, or a society

Why should Pennsylvania […] become a Colony of aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us, instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our language or customs, any more than they can acquire our complexion?

1751, Benjamin Franklin, Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc.:

(transitive) To give a German character to (something).

(intransitive) To adopt German customs or culture.


entering tone

(Chinese phonetics) A short, sharp tone found with syllables that end in plosives (usually /-p -t -k -ʔ/).


Buginese

A Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in parts of Sulawesi, Indonesia.


Haryanvi

A Hindi language spoken by about thirteen million people in northern India.


Baekje

From the Revised Romanization of Korean 백제(百濟) (Baekje).

(historical) An ancient language spoken in that kingdom.


Kirundi

The standardized dialect of the Bantu language Rwanda-Rundi which is spoken in Burundi.


Nigerian Pidgin

An English-based creole of Nigeria, combining vocabulary and grammar from the English language as well as various indigenous Nigerian languages.


Sasak

The language spoken by the Sasak people.


Haida

From Southern Haida X̲aayda /ħaːjd̥a/; compare Northern Haida xaad /ħaːd̥/.

The Haida language, called Skittagetan by Powell, was anciently spoken only on the Queen Charlotte islands off the coast of British Columbia.

1911, John R. Swanton, “Haida”, in Franz Boas, editor, Handbook of American Indian Languages, Washington, page 209:


Muscogee

The Muskogean language spoken by the Muscogee.


Kokborok

Borrowed from Kokborok Kok Borok, from kok (“language”) + borok (“people”).

The Sino-Tibetan language of the Tripuri people in the Indian state of Tripura and its neighboring areas of Bangladesh.


Ibibio

The language spoken by the Ibibio people of Akwa Ibom State of southern Nigeria. It belongs to the Niger-Congo language family.


Kumyk

a Turkic language spoken by the Kumyks in the Dagestan region of the Russian Federation.


Ndrumbea

An Austronesian language spoken in parts of New Caledonia, with ISO 639-3 code duf.


Dutch Low Saxon

(uncommon) A non-standardized cluster of regional dialects of Low Saxon (Low German), influenced by Dutch, spoken in the northeastern provinces of the Netherlands, and recognized as a minority language by the European Union.


Yurok

Borrowed from Karok [Term?] (“downriver [people]”), as they live on the Klamath River downstream of the Karuk, whose name means "upriver [people]".

bor+

A member of a particular Native American tribe of Northern California.


Pumpokol

A Yeniseian language formerly spoken in Siberia that has been extinct since the 18th century.


Kott

A Yeniseian language which was spoken in Siberia and has been extinct for 150 years.


Franco-Provençal

A Romance language spoken in east-central France, western Switzerland, and northwestern Italy.


Arpitan

/ˈɑː.pɪˌtæn/

A neologism coined by Joseph Henriet, a word meaning "mountaineer" or "shepherd" deliberately chosen to "sound like Occitan," based on a local derivative of Latin Alpes (“the Alps, mountain highlands”). Aligned with Franco-Provençal arpetan, New Latin arpitanus. Also see Arpitania and Franco-Provençal.


Arvanitika

/ˌɑːvəˈnɪtɪkə/

Borrowed from Greek αρβανίτικα (arvanítika), a dialectal variant of αλβανικά (alvaniká, “Albanian”) related to Byzantine Greek Ἀρβανίτης (Arbanítēs).
Borrowed from the albanian word and self-designation Arbër, rhotic variant of Arbën.

An archaic form of the Albanian language spoken by a linguistic minority in Greece.


Arbëresh

Borrowed from Albanian arbëresh, a rhotic variant of arbënesh (“Albanian”), from Arbën (“Albanian”) + -esh (ablative suffix).

suffix

The form of the Albanian language spoken by the Arbëreshë people in southern Italy.

arbërisht

form of Albanian spoken in southern Italy


Tadzhik

The archeological office of the Sinkiang Uighur Autonomous Region museum discovered a large number of ancient tombs in Tashihkuerhkan Tadzhik Autonomous County.

1977 November 25 [1977 November 20], “Sinkiang Archeological Find Refutes Soviet Distortion of History”, in Daily Report: People's Republic of China, volume I, number 227, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Urumchi Sinkiang Regional Service, translation of original in Mandarin, →OCLC, page M 2:


Jurchen

From a reconstruction of Jurchen *jörcen, attested via Middle Chinese 竹里真 (ʈɨuk̚ lɨ^X t͡ɕiɪn) and Khitan 𘲮𘯤𘰭 (*ju rả n), developed under the influence of Manchu ᠵᡠᡵᠴᡳᡨ (jurcit) and Classical Mongolian ᠵᠦᠷᠴᠢᠳ (ǰürčid). Vajda argues for a derivation from a Proto-Tungusic word meaning "reindeer people", cognate with the Orochs of Russia's Khabarovsk Province and the Oroks of Sakhalin.

A member of a medieval and early modern Tungusic people, progenitors of the Manchus.


Jurchen

An extinct Tungusic language (code jur), related to Manchu.


Sekgalagadi

Sekgalagadi has noun classes like those of the other Bantu languages.

1997, Lars-Gunnar Andersson, Tore Janson, Languages in Botswana: Language Ecology in Southern Africa:

A language spoken in the Kgalagadi region of Botswana.


Saterland Frisian

a Frisian language spoken mostly in the municipality of Saterland in the district of Cloppenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany


Kamassian

An extinct Samoyedic language that was spoken by Kamasins in Siberia.


Taino

From Taíno taino (“lord, noble, foremost”).

He was accepted as a Taino now and must adapt to their ways.

2015, Donald H Sullivan, Turnbull's Slaves: A Minorcan Story - Plus Taino, Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN:

Following the birth of a baby, Tainos would perform a naming ritual where the child would be pronounced as a Taino and a human being (Keegan, 1997).

2016, Hector Y. Adames, Nayeli Y. Chavez-Dueñas, Cultural Foundations and Interventions in Latino/a Mental Health: History, Theory and within Group Differences, Routledge, →ISBN, page 24:

A member of a group of pre-Columbian indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and some of the Lesser Antilles.


Dholuo

A Nilotic language of Kenya and Tanzania.


Dhupadhola

The Nilotic language of the Jopadhola people of Uganda.


Macanese

A creole language originating in Macau, based on Portuguese and some East Asian languages.


Madurese

An Austronesian language spoken predominantly on the island of Madura.


Old Armenian

The oldest attested form of the Armenian language, first written down at the beginning of the 5th century AD and spoken until 12th century; then replaced by Middle Armenian. Served as a literary language until the 18-19th centuries. Partly intelligible to speakers of modern Armenian.


Magar

From Nepali मगर (magar), from the name in Eastern Magar.

The Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Magar people.


Picard

From Picardy, region of northern France.

A Romance language closely related to French


Caló

a mixed language or dialect spoken by the Spanish and Portuguese Romani.


Lunda

The language of the BaLunda people of central Africa.


Multicultural London English

An English sociolect peculiar to modern-day London, being a mixture of Cockney, Jamaican, West African, and Indian accents and dialects.


MLE

ante''' 2009: Ignacio Ramos, A. Jesús Moya Guijarro, and José Ignacio Albentosa Hernández [eds.], New Trends in English Teacher Education, page 209 (Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha; →ISBN
In terms of its characteristics, MLE is anchored to a large extent in Jamaican Creole, throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s a competitor to Cockney. But Kerswill et al report that it has now encompassed and synthesized elements of everything from Cockney and African English to Hindi, Bangladeshi languages and Arabic. For this reasons it is sometimes called, erroneously, “Hinglish” or “Jafaican”.

Multicultural London English
Multicultural London English#English

(linguistics) Initialism of Multicultural London English.


Indian English

en-noun

Indian English (countable and uncountable, plural Indian Englishes)

Much more common was the bureaucratic use of Indian English. Below the level of the most highly educated, whose English was invariably modelled on old-fashioned teaching, were the English-using clerks of the Imperial administration.

1986, McCrum, Robert, William Cran, & Robert MacNeil, The Story of English, Viking Penguin Inc., page 329:

A major dialect of the English language, spoken in many varieties in India and by people from India.


language isolate

language isolate (plural language isolates)

(linguistics) A natural language with no proven genetic relationship to another language.


Fiji Hindi

The Indo-Iranian language spoken by people of Indian descent in Fiji.


Lulogooli

A Bantu language spoken by the Avalogoli or Maragoli people of Kenya.


Caddo

Clipping of French Kadohadacho, from Caddo kadawdáachuh.

A Caddoan language of the Southern Plains of the United States, spoken by the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.


Alutiiq

From Russian алеу́ты (aleúty, “Aleuts”), from Aleut allíthuh (“community”).

(linguistics) A language of the Eskimo-Aleut family.


Luhya

A Bantu language spoken in western Kenya and Uganda. Luhya has a number of dialects, including Maragoli, Abagisu, Marama, Kibukusu, Wanga, and Bukusu.


Lauje

The Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by this tribe.


Literary Chinese

The written Chinese language used from the end of the Han Dynasty (220 C.E.) to the early 20th century. In Chinese, 文言 (wényán, “literary writing”).

The written Chinese language used from the Zhou Dynasty (1045 B.C.E.) (especially the Spring and Autumn Period), through to the end of the Han Dynasty (220 C.E.). In Chinese, 古文 (gǔwén, “Ancient Writing”). The language of many classics of Chinese literature.

Written Chinese for this entire period, without distinction.


Classical Chinese

The written Chinese language used from the Zhou Dynasty (1045 B.C.E.) (especially the Spring and Autumn Period), through to the end of the Han Dynasty (220 C.E.). In Chinese, 古文 (gǔwén, “Ancient Writing”) or, formally, 古典漢語 /古典汉语 (“Classical Chinese”). The language of many classics of Chinese literature.

The written Chinese language used from the Zhou Dynasty (1045 B.C.E.) to the early 20th century.


Khotanese

From Khotan + -ese. For the first element see Hotan.

An extinct Eastern Iranian language formerly spoken in the Kingdom of Khotan.


Laal

An unclassified language spoken in Chad.


Abau

A Papuan language, spoken in the Sandaun province of Papua New Guinea.


Akha

An ethnic group and Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Burma, China, and neighboring countries.


Alamblak

A Papuan language spoken in the Angoram district of Papua New Guinea.


Alune

A Malayo-Polynesian language of Indonesia.


Andi

A Northeast Caucasian language of Russia.


Anuta

An Oceanic language of the Solomon Islands.


Arin

An extinct Yeniseian language formerly spoken in Russia.


Dargwa

A Northeast Caucasian language of Dagestan, Russia.


Dyula

A Niger-Congo language spoken in Upper Volta and Ivory Coast.


Evenki

Derived from Russian эвенки́йский (evenkíjskij) or Evenki эвэнкӣ (əwənkī).

der

эвенки́йский

A Tungusic language spoken in Russia, Mongolia and China.


Gumatj

An Aboriginal Australian language spoken in the Northern Territory.


Gurindji

/ˈɡʊrɪndʒiː/

A Ngumbin Australian Aboriginal suffixing language spoken in the Wave Hill and Victoria River regions of the Northern Territory.


Xavánte

A Ge language spoken by the Xavánte people in and surrounding eastern Mato Grosso, Brazil.


Yao

A Bantu people living in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania in Africa.


Yao

From Mandarin 姚 (yáo) and Hokkien 姚 (iâu).


Tsou

An Aboriginal Taiwanese language spoken in the Alishan region of Taiwan.


Tsakhur

A Northeast Caucasian language spoken in Russia and Azerbaijan.


Karakalpak

/ˌkæɹəˈkælpæk/

A Turkic language of Uzbekistan and neighboring countries.


Karamojong

* From Karamojong language. The name means "the old men sat down", referring to a migration.

(linguistics) A Nilo-Saharan language of Uganda.


Timucua

An extinct language isolate formerly spoken in Florida.


Shina

Borrowed from Shina ݜݨیاٗ (ṣiṇyaá), from Sanskrit श्रेण्यक (śreṇyaka), from श्रेण्य (śreṇya, “tribesman”).

Their language, sometimes regarded as multiple languages, which belong to the Dardic family.


Old Japanese

the oldest stage of the Japanese language; spoken through the 8th century and followed by Late Old Japanese


Kurukh

A Dravidian language spoken in India and Bangladesh.


Gondi

The Dravidian language spoken by the people in Gondwana, central India.


Dinka

The Nilo-Saharan language spoken by these people.


Malabarese

The predominant language spoken in Malabar, also known as Malayalam.


Chamicuro

Their Western Maipuran language, a member of the Arawakan family.


Khitan

Borrowed from Khitan 𘱿𘲫 (*qid ún) or 𘱿𘱤 (*qid i) under influence from Chinese 契丹 (Qìdān), and Mongolian Кидан (Kidan).
Doublet of Cathay. Cognate with Russian Кита́й (Kitáj, “China”) and the various forms of Cathay (“legendary northern medieval China”) in European languages.

The extinct Mongolic language spoken by the Khitan people.


moonspeak

From moon + -speak; probably derived from the anime Turn A Gundam (1999–2000) where the inhabitants of the Moon, known as the Moonrace, have their own language, called Moonspeak by fans.

(slang, derogatory or humorous) Any foreign language deemed confusing by the speaker, especially Japanese or another East Asian language.


Yucatec Maya

Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula, northern Belize and parts of Guatemala.


Websterism

Again, the spelling of such words as "center" and "traveler" is not an Americanism, though to be found in a few American books, but a Websterism […]

[…] this improvement will no longer figure as an Americanism or a Websterism.

1881, Isaac Pitman, Pitman's Journal of Commercial Education:

(dated) An orthographic convention due to Noah Webster (1758-1843), American lexicographer and spelling reformer.


COCA

w:Corpus of Contemporary American English

(linguistics) Acronym of Corpus of Contemporary American English.


Arabise

en-verb

Arabise (third-person singular simple present Arabises, present participle Arabising, simple past and past participle Arabised)

Arabises (present singular third-person)
Arabising (participle present)
Arabised (participle past)
Arabised (past)

‘Asalaamu Alaikum,’ said an unfamiliar voice in the faux-Arabised accent of a non-Arab Muslim who is trying too hard, and Parvaiz looked up to see a compact but powerfully built man, muscles distorting the shape of his tightly fitting bomber jacket.

2017, Kamila Shamsie, Home Fire, Bloomsbury (2018), page 123:


Arabize

Arabize (third-person singular simple present Arabizes, present participle Arabizing, simple past and past participle Arabized)

Arabizes (present singular third-person)
Arabizing (participle present)
Arabized (participle past)
Arabized (past)

Iran was indeed Islamized, but it was not Arabized. Persians remained Persians. And after an interval of silence, Iran reemerged as a separate, different and distinctive element within Islam, eventually adding a new element even to Islam itself.

1999, Bernard Lewis, "Iran in History", Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies, page 2:

(transitive) To make Arab; to give Arab traits to.


Huave

Their language, which is a language isolate with several dialects.


Khinalug

A Northeast Caucasian language spoken mainly in the villages of Khinalug and Qalayxudat just north of Quba (Quba Rayon, Azerbaijan).


Nogai

A Turkic language spoken in the northern Caucasus region of southwestern Russia and in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.


Nimbari

A language spoken in northern Cameroon and Nigeria.


Minangkabau

A Malayo-Polynesian language of Malaysia and Indonesia.


Elizabethan English

/əˌlɪzəˈbiːθən ˈiːŋɡlɪʃ/

Blends, also known as portmanteau words, are not an original part of English. That is, none occur in Old or Middle English, nor even in Elizabethan English, with the earliest known example being the rare and now obsolete term tomaxe, a blend of tomahawk and axe.

2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 10:

The dialect of English spoken during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.


Negerhollands

US Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands

A Dutch-based creole, also incorporating elements of Danish, English, French, Spanish and West African languages, once spoken in what are now the US Virgin Islands.


Middle Persian

The ancestor of New Persian spoken from around 300 BC till about 800 AD, evolving from Old Persian.


Eastern Armenian

One of the two standardized forms of the modern Armenian language, the other being Western Armenian. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia and is the dialect spoken by Armenian diaspora in CIS countries and Iran. It developed in the 19th century in Russian Armenia.


Western Armenian

One of the two standardized forms of the modern Armenian language, the other being Eastern Armenian. Following the Genocide of Armenians of 1915, it is now spoken by the descendants of Armenian survivors from the Ottoman Empire fleeing to Armenian diaspora, mainly in North America and South America, Europe and most of the Middle East except for Iran.


Kickapoo

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Kickapoo.wav

Borrowed from Spanish Kikapú, further origins are contested; an Anishinaabeg source proposes giiwigaabaw (“stand here and there”), in reference to the tribe's migratory patterns.

A member of a particular Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe.


Hui

In Hui restaurants in towns such as Wuchung and Chungning, restaurant workers wearing the white caps of the Hui nationality serve customers. Most government institutions, factories and schools in different parts of the autonomous region have set up dining rooms for the Huis, where their special foods are served.

1978 November [1978 October 16], “Religious Life Never Interfered With”, in Eastern Horizon, volume XVII, number 11, Hong Kong: Eastern Horizon Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16:

This compact collection of households comprises nine teams that are almost 100 percent Hui, a rarity in central and northern Ningxia, where Hui are thinly distributed among the majority Han population. Yongning county is only 12.9 percent Hui, a relatively small minority in contrast to neighboring Lingwu county in the southeast, which is 47 percent Hui, and southern Jingyuan county, which is 97 percent Hui (the highest concentration of Hui in one county in China).

2002, Dru C. Gladney, “Ethnoreligious Resurgence in a Northwestern Sufi Community”, in Susan D. Blum, Lionel M. Jensen, editors, China Off Center: Mapping the Margins of the Middle Kingdom, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 109:

Within Xi’an, Hui and Han alike eat roujiamo, the Chinese hamburger: meat tucked into flatbread that’s been crisped on the grill until it shows tiger skin on one side — shades of orange and black — and a chrysanthemum whorl on the other. The Han make it with long-braised pork, doused with a spoonful of its own broth, and the Hui with beef or lamb, stewed, then salted and dried.

2020 May 11, Ligaya Mishan, “Eating in Xi’an, Where Wheat and Lamb Speak to China’s Varied Palette”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2020-05-11:

An ethnic group of China, distinguished by their practice of Islam, who speak Mandarin (or Dungan in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Russia).


Paiwan

(uncountable) The Formosan language of the Paiwan people.


Rajasthani

The group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken primarily in Rajasthan and Pakistan.


Nuer

Borrowed from Dinka Nuer; the Nuer name is Naath.


Banyumasan

A Javanese language closely related to Malay, Sundanese, Madurese, and Balinese.


Newari

A Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Nepal, India and Bhutan by the Newa people, and the only Tibeto-Burman language written in Devanagari script.


Venetic

From Latin veneticus, from Venetia (“land of the Veneti; Venice, Veneto”) + -icus (“-ic: forming adjectives”), from Venetī + -ia, of uncertain origin. Equivalent to Veneti + -ic.

(historical linguistics) An extinct Indo-European language once spoken by the Veneti people who lived between the Po River delta in northeastern Italy and the southern Alps in Slovenia in antiquity.


Gan

From Mandarin 贛／赣 (Gàn, “Jiangxi; Gan (language)”).

One of the major varieties of Chinese, spoken in Jiangxi province.

цзянси́йский

диале́кт, язы́к


Gan

Alternative form of Ngen (“dialect of the Beng language”)


Gan

en-proper noun

Gan (countable and uncountable, plural Gans)

Borrowed from Mandarin 甘 (Gān), Hokkien 顏／颜 (Gân), etc.


Ceqli

A constructed auxiliary language based on Loglan and influenced by Mandarin.


Atikamekw

Borrowing from Atikamekw atikamekw (“whitefish”); recorded as Atikamegouékhi in early documents.

Their language, part of the Cree subgroup of Algonquian.

atikamekw nehiromowin

Algonquian language spoken by this people


Awadhi

An Indo-Aryan language spoken in India and Nepal that is considered to be a part of the Eastern Hindi languages.


Vlax Romani

A dialect of Romani spoken in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Romania, Albania and Hungary.


Balkan Romani

One of several dialects of Romani, spoken by groups within the Balkans.


Lomavren

The mixed language of the Armenian Lom people (the Bosha), spoken by a tiny number of persons mostly in Armenia but also Azerbaijan, Russia and Syria and consisting chiefly of Armenian grammar and pronunciation with an Indic-derived vocabulary.


Wichita

/ˈwɪt͡ʃɪtɔː/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Wichita.wav

Uncertain. Probably from Creek we-chate (“red water”), referring to We-chate hatchee (Red Water River, or Red River of the South).

A member of a tribe of Native Americans, most populous in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.


Wichita

/ˈwɪt͡ʃɪtɔː/

Their Caddoan language, which is now extinct.

Future speeding on swift wheels / straight to the heart of Wichita!

1966, Allen Ginsberg, Wichita Vortex Sutra:

I'm half sick on the drinks you mixed / Through your / True dreams / Of Wichita

1994, “True Dreams of Wichita”, in Ruby Vroom, performed by Soul Coughing:

A large city, the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States; the largest city in Kansas.


native language

en-noun

native language (plural native languages)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-native language.wav

Mary Katharine, one of the things in California, kids apparently who speak English as a second language have a year in which they can take classes that are taught in their native language in addition to English, and some people would say that that should help them really get established and after that, you're on your own, go take all the tests in English.

2007 November 23, on “Teaching Spanish; Holiday Debt”, John Gibson Show, Fox Radio

One's first language, learned in early childhood.


Old Spanish

Early form of the Spanish language that was spoken on the Iberian Peninsula from the 10th century until roughly the beginning of the 15th century, before a consonantic readjustment gave rise to the evolution of Modern Spanish.


Korowai

The Nuclear-Trans-New-Guinean language of these people.


Mingrelian

From Mingrel + -ian, from Georgian მეგრელი (megreli). Compare the variant Megrelian.

I’m told, Minister Beria did, on occasion, like to perform Mingrelian peasant songs on the balalaika.

2020, Ben Creed, City of Ghosts, London: Welbeck Publishing, →ISBN, page 264:

A Kartvelian language spoken in parts of Georgia (mainly Samegrelo and Abkhazia).


Old Italian

Old + Italian, on the pattern of Old English

The theory that there was a spontaneous development of an obscure vowel in final position on certain occasions in Old Italian has gained general currency and has been carried on in the works of the main authorities.

1938, George Melville Bolling, Bernard Bloch, Language, volume 14, Linguistic Society of America, page 224:

[… T]his configuration, in which the infinitive clause is a prepositional complement of a noun, could not be found in the documentary evidence of (Tuscan) Old Italian. Another diverging property in this example is the preverbal subject after prepositions, no longer common in Old Italian at the end of the fifteenth century […]
[… T]he examples show the use of nonauxiliary verbs. Though similar to Old Italian, this is another difference from contemporary Italian.

2000, Guido Mensching, Infinitive Constructions with Specified Subjects: A Syntactic Analysis of the Romance Languages, pages 30 and 31 (Oxford Studies in Comparative Syntax; →ISBN, 9780195133035)

The continuum of languages derived from Vulgar Latin spoken in the Italian peninsula between circa 960 and the establishment of the Accademia della Crusca in 1582.


East Bird's Head

A language family whose members are spoken on the Bird's Head peninsula in West Papua.


Isoko

The language spoken in the Isoko region and Niger Delta in Nigeria, by the Isoko people. It is linguistically similar to the language of the neighboring Urhobo people.


Samburu

From an old Maasai word, saamburr, for the leather bag the Samburu use.

Their Eastern Nilotic, North Maa language.


Japlish

(informal) A confused blend of Japanese and English; Engrish.


Kassonke

A Manding-West language spoken as a first language by the Khassonké people on the border of Mali and Senegal.


Xamtanga

A Central Cushitic language spoken in Ethiopia by the Xamir.


Xinca

Their language, generally considered a language isolate.


Xipaya

A moribund Tupian language of the Pará region of Brazil.


Xiri

A moribund Khoisan language of South Africa, related to Nama.


Proto-Romance

The reconstructed ancestor of all the Romance languages.


Shasta

Uncertain. Possibly from the exonym Sustika, with an origin in the Klamath language.

An extinct Native American language, formerly spoken from northern California into southwestern Oregon.

census-designated place
census-designated place

A census-designated place in Shasta County, California, United States.


Shasta

A member of a Native American tribe of California.


Proto-Bantu

The hypothetical protolanguage of the Bantu languages.


Old Cornish

An early form of the Cornish language, used circa 800-1200 AD.


Rhaetian

(linguistics) An extinct non-Romance language spoken in the ancient region of Raetia in the eastern Alps in pre-Roman and Roman times.


Sabaean

An extinct Semitic language spoken in Sheba (Saba).


Mandaic

The liturgical language of the Mandaean religion, a variety of Aramaic with strong Persian influences.


Zizilivakan

A Chadic language spoken in parts of Cameroon and Nigeria.


Zumaya

A moribund Chadic language spoken in Cameroon.


Zande

An Ubangian language spoken by the Azande people.


Zaiwa

zh-l

載瓦／载瓦 (Zǎiwǎ)

A language spoken in parts of China and Burma.


Sahaptin

Sahaptian languages
Sahaptin language
Sahaptin people

A family of languages comprising Sahaptin and Nez Perce.


Saho

The Cushitic language spoken by this people.


Old Scandinavian

The language Proto-Norse or Proto-Scandinavian.


Auslan

Blend of Australian + sign + language, coined by Trevor Johnston in the early 1980s, although the language itself is much older.

The sign language of the Australian deaf community.


Saka

First attested in the late 19th century as a learned borrowing from Sanskrit शक (śaka), from Old Persian 𐎿𐎣𐎠 (s-k-a /Sakā/, “Scythian”), from 𐎿𐎣 (s-k /Saka/, “Scythia”), from Scythian. Mostly displaced earlier Saca, ultimately from the same source via Latin. Doublet of Saca, Shaka, and Scyth.

der

The Iranian language of the Saka people.


Saka

Borrowed from Japanese 坂(さか) (Saka); sometimes used as a topographic surname for someone who lived on a slope.


Saka

Borrowed from Turkish Saka, an occupational surname for a water-carrier, from saka (“water-carrier”).


Brabantian

He speaks Brabantian with his schoolmates, and Belgian Standard Dutch in the classroom and with unfamiliar teachers in the playground, a classic example of diglossia.

The language or dialect mainly spoken in North Brabant (the Netherlands), Antwerp and Flemish Brabant provinces (Belgium).


Archi

A Northeast Caucasian language spoken in the Dagestan region of Russia.


Cuyonon

A language spoken on the coast of Palawan and the Cuyo Islands in the Philippines.


Middle Low German

The written language is nowhere spoken by the people; it was formed at the period when Luther, rejecting the Middle High and the Middle Low German, adopted in preference the dialect of Misnia or Meissen, which had begun to be written much later.

A language or collection of dialects that descended from Old Saxon and is the ancestor of modern Low German, spoken from about 1100 to 1600.

Middelnedderdütsch (as adjective: middelnedderdütsch)


ǂKxʼauǁʼein

A Khoisan language spoken in Namibia and Botswana.


Achuar-Shiwiar

A Jivaroan language spoken in Peru and Ecuador.


Ajië

An Austronesian language spoken in New Caledonia.


Akhvakh

A Northeast Caucasian language spoken in Russia.


Alsea

An extinct Penutian language spoken in the United States.


Chinglish

en-adj

Chinglish (comparative more Chinglish, superlative most Chinglish)

more Chinglish (comparative)
most Chinglish (superlative)

(sometimes derogatory) Of or resembling English that is influenced by the Chinese language.

中式英語的 /中式英语的

resembling English influenced by Chinese


Chinglish

And as Global English evolves through the twenty-first century, Chinglish will, undoubtedly, continue to have a sizable impact.

2008, Paul J.J. Payack, A Million Words And Counting: How Global English Is Rewriting The World, →ISBN:

Andrea acknowledged that she spoke Chinglish, that she hated her accent, and that learners needed a comprehensible teacher voice in the classroom.

2010, Janette Ryan, Gordon Slethaug, International Education and the Chinese Learner, →ISBN, page 146:

You will see signs written in Chinglish all over China. These signs are usually amusing to English-speaking westerners because they often make no sense, or the translation is inappropriately sexual in content.

2011, Jean M. Life, LIFE IN CHINA: My Story, →ISBN, page 204:

The same can be said about the speakers of Teochiu, Hokkien, Hakka, and Cantonese and Hailam in Southeast Asia, Cantonese in Hong Kong, and all the different topolect speakers and Chinglish or pidgin speakers in the United States.

2012, Shu-mei Shih, Sinophone Studies: A Critical Reader, →ISBN, page 32:

(sometimes derogatory) Spoken or written English which is influenced by the Chinese language.


Classical Arabic

The form of the Arabic language used in literary texts around the 8th to 10th centuries, standardized from ancient dialects of Arab tribes and the Qur'an.

klassíčeskij arábskij literatúrnyj jazýk

класси́ческий ара́бский литерату́рный язы́к


Modern Standard Arabic

The standard and literary variety of Arabic used in writing and in formal speech in the Arab world since c. the 19th century.

совреме́нный ара́бский литерату́рный язы́к


Udi

Compare Uti, the name of one of the provinces of Greater Armenia.

A Lezgic language (Northeast Caucasian) spoken by the Udi people who live mostly in Azerbaijan and nearby regions. Probably descended from Caucasian Albanian.


Antillean Creole

crioulo antilhano

a French-based creole language spoken in the Caribbean


Otomi

Borrowed from Spanish otomí, from Classical Nahuatl otomih, plural of otomitl.

An Oto-Manguean language and one of the indigenous languages of Mexico, spoken by around 240,000 indigenous Otomi people in the central altiplano region of Mexico.


Pirahã

/piːɹəˈhɑːn/

The Pirahã language challenges simplistic application of Hockett's nearly universally accepted design features of human language by showing that some of these features (interchangeability, displacement, and productivity) may be culturally constrained.

2005, Daniel Everett, “Cultural Constraints on Grammar and Cognition in Pirahã”, in Current Anthropology, section 46.4:

The language of this people, having no extant relatives, with few phonemes, and controversially claimed to have no true numbers, no way of talking about history, and no recursive embedding.


Old Welsh

The Welsh language as it existed from about 800 until the early twelfth century (when it developed into Middle Welsh), not readily intelligible to modern Welsh speakers.


Old Norwegian

The Old Norse language as spoken and written in Norway in the Middle Ages.


Old Swedish

The medieval form of the Swedish language, markedly different from the modern language in having more complex case and gender systems.


Old Babylonian

The Akkadian language spoken at that time.


Old Ukrainian

стараўкраінская

West Russian descendant of Old East Slavic - specific to Old Ukrainian


Old Belarusian

старабелару́скі

West Russian descendant of Old East Slavic - specific to Old Belarusian


Old Icelandic

The Old Norse language as spoken and written in Iceland in the Middle Ages, quite similar to Old Norwegian, but differing most markedly in orthography and, to a lesser extent, in phonology.


Lisu

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 傈僳 (Lìsù), 𤠫𤢂, etc.

A tonal language spoken by the Lisu people.


Middle Irish

The Goidelic language spoken in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man from the 10th to the 12th century.


French Sign Language

Old French Sign Language
Old French Sign Language

A dactylological sign language used in seven different countries, based on Old French Sign Language. ISO 639-3 code: fsl.


Latin-American Spanish

Coordinate term: Peninsular Spanish

The continuum of standard forms of Spanish spoken in Latin America.


Veluws

A Dutch Low Saxon dialect which is spoken on the Veluwe, usually divided into West Veluws and East Veluws, the former being more influenced by the neighboring Hollandian and Standard Dutch than the latter. (ISO 639-3 code: "vel".)


Istriot

A Romance language spoken in western Istria.


isiGqumo

A cant (argot) jargon used by Bantu African mine workers in small townships in South Africa, in same-sex circumstances.


Gilaki

A Caspian language spoken in the Gilan province of Iran.


Bishnupriya Manipuri

An Indo-Aryan language closely related to Bengali and Assamese spoken in chiefly in the Northeast Indian states of Assam and Tripuraas well as in Bangladesh and Myanmar.


Buhid

A language spoken by Mangyans in the province of Mindoro in the Philippines, divided into eastern and western dialects.


Irish English

The set of English dialects native to the island of Ireland, including both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.


Middle Chinese

Chinese language spoken during Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties (6th century – 10th century)


Limbu

Their Tibeto-Burman language, written in a unique script.


Shekkacho

A regional language of Ethiopia with approximately 70,000 speakers.


Cia-Cia

An Austronesian language spoken in Buton Island, Indonesia.


Columbia-Wenatchi

A language spoken in the northwest of the United States that is nearly extinct.


Hungana

A near-extinct language of the Dominican Republic.


Fam

A local language spoken in the Taraba State area of Nigeria.


Middle Watut

A language spoken in 7 villages of the Watut Valley in Papua New Guinea.


Khoekhoe

From Khoekhoe Khoekhoe.n (“Khoekhoe people”), from khoe.b (“human being”).

Any of a group of languages or dialects spoken by these people.


Old Provençal

The old Provençal tongue, beloved of knights and troubadours, and forever associated in our minds with romance and chivalry, had become so debased by low singers of tavern songs, that its poetry was only “a riot of coarse speech, which had slain modesty in the ears of the young.”

1872, Edward Everett Hale, editor, Old and New, volume VI, page 471:

(dated in linguistics) Romance language spoken in the south of France which is considered the origin of modern Provençal, also known as Occitan.


Old Occitan

Romance language spoken in the south of France which is considered the origin of modern Occitan, also known as Provençal.


Transalpine Gaulish

An extinct European language of the Indo-European family, spoken in Gaul.


Old Breton

An early form of Breton language, spoken in the North of France in the between the 9th and the 11th century AD.


Middle Breton

An early form of Breton language, spoken in Brittany, in western France, between the 11th and the 16th century AD.


Chagatai

/ˈt͡ʃɑːɡətaɪ/

Transliteration of Russian Чагата́й (Čagatáj), from Uyghur چاغاتاي (chaghatay), from Chagatai جغتای (jağatāy), from Middle Mongol ᠴᠠᠭᠠᠲᠠᠶ (čaɣatay).

transliteration

A male given name of historical usage, most famously borne by the Mongol ruler Chagatai Khan (1183–1242), second son of Genghis Khan and first khan of the Chagatai Khanate, a medieval Mongol and later Turkicized khanate of Central Asia (divided after the 14th century).


Old Bulgarian

Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic#English

старобъ́лгарски

The Bulgarian recension of Old Church Slavonic (9th–11th century).


Britishism

en-noun

Britishism (countable and uncountable, plural Britishisms)

A word, phrase, idiom, or expression peculiar to the English language as spoken in Britain.


Latgalian

A language spoken by the ancient Latgalians, from which Latvian is largely derived.

A modern language spoken in the eastern part of Latvia, sometimes considered a dialect of Latvian.


English English

My own tongue is neither American English nor English English, but Irish English; so I am as nearly impartial in the matter as it is in human nature to be.

1901, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Notes to Captain Brassbound’s Conversion”, in Three Plays for Puritans: The Devil’s Disciple, Cæsar and Cleopatra, & Captain Brassbound’s Conversion, London: Grant Richards, […], →OCLC, page 305:

A dialect of the English language that is spoken mostly in England.


North Frisian

A Frisian language, or group of dialects, spoken by 5,000 to 10,000 people in northwestern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.

Mooring Frisian (2nd-largest dialect, spoken around Niebüll)


Mengen

A Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in Papua New Guinea.


Judaeo-Spanish

Although like most American-born children of immigrants they had failed to develop a fluent use of the mother tongue, both had heard Judaeo-Spanish all their lives and had entirely native habits of pronouncing it.

1950, Agard, Frederick B., "Present-Day Judaeo-Spanish in the United States," in Hispania, Vol. 33, American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, page 204

A Romance language, based on Old Spanish, and spoken almost exclusively by Sephardic Jews in Greece and Turkey.


Judezmo

Borrowed from Ladino djudezmo (“Jewishness”) (related to Spanish judaísmo and English Judaism), from Biblical Hebrew יְהוּדָה (Yehuda, “Judah”). Doublet of Judaism.

der

However, from the perspective of spoken Magrebi Judeo-Arabic, Judezmo appears to have very substantial autonomy indeed (Cohen 1981 and this volume).

1985, Joshua A. Fishman, Readings in the Sociology of Jewish Languages, E.J. Brill, page 6:


Eshtehardi

Eshtehard (“town near Karaj, Iran”) + -i

suffix

A Northwestern Iranian language spoken in Eshtahard (Eshtehard), a town near Karaj, Iran.


Kalispel-Pend d'Oreille

Montana Salish, a Salishan language spoken in parts of Washington and Montana.


Gagauz

/ˌɡæɡɑːˈuːz/

See Turkish Gagavuz. Compare Kavkazian and Caucasus.

The language of Gagauzia and the Gagauz people.


bare infinitive

en-noun

bare infinitive (plural bare infinitives)

(grammar) The infinitive form of an English verb without the particle to; a comparable infinitive in other Germanic languages, e.g. a German infinitive without a preceding "zu", or a Swedish one without a preceding "att".

infinitif nu

uninflected Germanic verb form without 'to'


Ere

A language spoken on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.


stroke order

the standard sequence in which a Chinese character is written in Chinese, Japanese or Korean writing


British Sign Language

A language that uses hands, facial expressions, and other bodily behaviour to communicate both concrete and abstract ideas; some signs are based on English words, but BSL syntax and grammar are not based on English.

Teanga Chomharthaíochta na Breataine

sign language used in the United Kingdom


Vandalic

The extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Vandals, probably closely related to the Gothic language.


Xiang

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 湘 (Xiāng).

A Chinese language spoken mainly in Hunan province, China

湘語 /湘语

one of the divisions of the Chinese language

хуна́ньский

диале́кт, язы́к


Campidanese Sardinian

a diasystem of the Sardinian language primarily spoken in the Cagliari, capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy


Kalenjin

The Nilotic language spoken by this group.


Andalusian Arabic

An extinct variety of the Arabic language spoken in Al-Andalus, in the Iberian Peninsula, under Muslim rule.


Ghomara

A language of the Berber family, spoken in Northern Morocco.


Xârâcùù

An Austronesian language spoken in New Caledonia.


ǀXam

An extinct Khoisan language once spoken in South Africa.


Ngarrindjeri

/ŋəˈrɪndʒəriː/

A Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal suffixing language spoken by the Ngarrindjeri people.


Monom

An Austroasiatic language spoken in the East Gia Lai, Kon Tum provinces of Vietnam.


Pawnee

Borrowing from French Pani, from Algonquin pani, either from Winnebago pa꞉ní or Chiwere pányi.

A near-extinct language of North America.

A village in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States.

A ghost town in Geary County, Kansas, United States.

A census-designated place in Bee County, Texas, United States.


Itelmen

A language of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family, spoken on Kamchatka in Russia.


Cajun French

The dialect of the French language spoken in Louisiana, USA


Hadza

A language isolate spoken by the Hadza people.


Proto-Norse

An Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia and ancestral to Old Norse that evolved from Proto-Germanic over the first centuries AD.


Anglo-Frisian

A group of Germanic languages, including English, Scots and Frisian.


Lombardic

Of the Lombards, a Germanic people who settled in Italy in the sixth century C.E., or of their language or culture.


Lombardic

Lombardic language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

The language of the Lombards, an extinct Germanic language known from fragmentary evidence.


Daur

Official Chinese GB 3304‐91 romanisation. Borrowed from Daur daur and Russian дау́ръ m anim sg (daúr, noun), alternative forms reflect Manchu ᡩᠠᡤᡡᡵ (dagūr), ᡩᠠᡥᡡᡵ (dahūr), and Classical Mongolian ᠳᠠᠭᠤᠷ (daɣur). The ethnonym has been considered to be originated from Khitan ⿰𘲆𘮒 (dau.úr /*dawur/, “middle, central”), a modifier used in the full name of the Liao empire.

lang

Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae

The language of the ethnic group, which belongs to the Mongolic language family.


Nivkh

The language isolate spoken by the Nivkh.


Northern Thai

/ˈnɔɹðəɹn taɪ/

The language spoken in the northern region of Thailand (closely related to Thai and Lao).


Cajun English

The dialect of the English language spoken in Cajun areas of southern Louisiana, USA


Arpetan

Alternative form of Arpitan (“Franco-Provençal”)


Iau

A Lakes Plain language spoken by the Turu people.


Renaissance Latin

The Latin language, as developed during the Italian Renaissance in the second half of the 14th century, which displaced Medieval Latin by the end of the century and became Early Modern Latin by the early 16th century.


Portuñol

From Spanish portuñol, blend of portugués (“Portuguese”) + español (“Spanish”).


Guanhua

Borrowed from Mandarin 官話 /官话 (Guānhuà).

Mandarin, group of Northern Chinese dialects including Standard Mandarin (Putonghua).


Cisalpine Gaulish

The extinct language spoken in Cisalpine Gaul, now northern Italy.


langue d'oïl

en-noun

langue d'oïl (countable and uncountable, plural langues d'oïl)

(uncountable) The language of medieval France, north of the Loire, in which the word oïl was used for yes


Aja

A Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Sudan.


Old Galician-Portuguese

Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages#English

A language spoken in western Iberia during the High and Late Middle Ages, the ancestor of modern Portuguese and Galician.

oldportugisisk

Portuguese language from 12th to 15th centuries


BSL

British Sign Language
British Sign Language#English


Byzantine Greek

Collectively, the continuum of forms of the Greek language as written and spoken during the time of the Byzantine Empire (C.E. 330–1453), preceded by Koine Greek and Early Medieval Greek and succeeded by Late Medieval Greek to Modern Greek. (ISO 639-3 code: grc shared with Classical Greek.)


Cham

The Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by these people.


Cham

Pertaining to the Cham people or their language.

占

pertaining to the Cham people or their language


Cham

an ethnic Albanian from Çamëri, originally resided in the western part of the region of Epirus in northwestern Greece, an area known among Albanians as Çamëri (engl.: Chameria).


Krumen

The Grebo language spoken by these people.


full infinitive

full infinitive (plural full infinitives)

(grammar) The English infinitive verb form when introduced by the particle to, or the equivalent in other Germanic languages, e.g. a Swedish infinitive introduced by 'att', or a Norwegian Bokmål infinitive introduced by 'å'.


to-infinitive

(grammar) The English infinitive verb form when introduced by the particle to.


Tunisian Arabic

A group of Arabic dialects spoken primarily in Tunisia.


Hispanophone

A native speaker of the Spanish language


Wejewa

A Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in the interior of Sumba Island, the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia.


Aramaean

From the Latin Aramaeī, from the Ancient Greek Ἀραμαῖοι (Aramaîoi), from Hebrew ארם (aram), the biblical name of a land of Upper Mesopotamia falling within modern Syria.


Central Sierra Miwok

An endangered language of the Utian family, spoken in California, USA.


Comox

From Lik'wala, the southern dialect of Kwak'wala kw’umuxws (“plentiful”).

A Salishan language historically spoken in Comox and the surrounding areas, including the Sunshine Coast.


Q'anjob'al

A Mayan language spoken in Guatemala and part of Mexico.


Mondial

Likely from French mondial (“worldwide, global”).

international auxiliary language
international auxiliary language

An international auxiliary language created by Swedish school principal Helge Heimer in the 1940s.


Ingvaeonic

From Latin Ingaevōnēs + -ic. The first element is of Germanic origin and could mean "descendant of Yngvi."

North Sea Germanic, a postulated grouping of the West Germanic languages that comprises Old Frisian, Old English, and Old Saxon (and their descendants).


Tarascan

Spanish tarasco, from a Purepecha word meaning indistinctly "father-in-law" or "son-in-law".


Jafaican

2006, June: Archibald St John Smith, How British is That?!: The Eccentric British Guide Book, pages 33–34 (Crombie Jardine Publishing Limited; →ISBN
Forget Cockney, Brummie, Geordie and Scouse, according to the Daily Mail — who else? — Jafaican is laying siege to our inner-city accents and is infiltrating the sacred English language. Soon we may all be familiar with creps (trainers), yard (home), yoot (child), blud (mate) and bitch (girlfriend).

[…] from Cockney, or East London, terminology to a style called “Jafaican”, which has elements of Jamaican and African street talk.

2007 March 16, Debbie Stowe, Paul Stump, Who is Borat?: The Unauthorized Biography of Sacha Baron Cohen, Barnes & Noble, →ISBN, page 122, →ISBN:

She is frowning, hiding her nervousness of Suzy’s presence behind the Jafaican babble.

2007 June 28, María Alvarez, Mirror, Mirror, Fig Tree, →ISBN, page 88, →ISBN:

One part of segregation not immediately obvious is language. I do not mean someone unable to speak the English language, although that is another variation on it; I mean the usage of ‘street’ talk or ‘Jafaican’ as it is sometimes referred to.

2007 December 17, Bobby Smith, Margaret Oshindele-Smith, One Love Two Colours: The Unlikely Marriage of a Punk Rocker and His African Queen, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, pages 197–198:

In the early section of this chapter, I discussed attitudes to British Patois, a variety used by members of the West Indian community in Britain. While attitudes are always changing, and new varieties of Black English, such as Jafaican, are said to be developing, […]

2008, January: Janet Holmes, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, page 413 (3rd edition; Pearson Education; →ISBN, 9781405821315)

a. 2009, Ignacio Ramos, A. Jesús Moya Guijarro, and José Ignacio Albentosa Hernández [eds.], New Trends in English Teacher Education, page 209 (Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha; →ISBN
In terms of its characteristics, MLE is anchored to a large extent in Jamaican Creole, throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s a competitor to Cockney. But Kerswill et al report that it has now encompassed and synthesized elements of everything from Cockney and African English to Hindi, Bangladeshi languages and Arabic. For this reasons it is sometimes called, erroneously, “Hinglish” or “Jafaican”.

Multicultural London English
Multicultural London English

(informal, also used attributively) Multicultural London English.


Rutul

The Lezgic (Northeast Caucasian) language of the Rutul people


Pitta-Pitta

An extinct Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal suffixing language formerly spoken over a large region of western Queensland in the vicinity of Boulia.


Wageman

An Australian Aboriginal language spoken in the Northern Territory in Australia


Worimi

An Australian Aboriginal language spoken in New South Wales.


Tamasheq

A southern Tuareg (Berber) language spoken primarily in Mali.


Inupiatun

Nouns in Inupiatun may be singular, dual, or plural.

2006, Ernest S. Burch, Social Life in Northwest Alaska: The Structure of Iñupiaq Eskimo Nations:


Sarcee

A native Canadian language of the Na-Dene family, spoken in Alberta.


Middle Latin

Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

A form of the Latin language used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration.


Yue

Borrowed from Mandarin 粵／粤 (yuè) or Mandarin 越 (yuè).

The Yue dialects are popularly known as the Cantonese dialects. [...] The speech of Canton City, which is Cantonese in its narrower sense, is the best known and most generally esteemed of the Yue dialects.

1989, S. Robert Ramsey, The Languages of China, page 98:

One form of Yue—that of Canton—has provided an umbrella term for the whole [language] complex—Cantonese.

2000, George L. Campbell, “YUE (Cantonese)”, in Compendium of the World's Languages, page 1793:

The modern variety of Chinese, which includes Cantonese and Taishanese.


Slavey

From French Esclave, a calque of a Cree name, as the Cree called these people (and several other traditional enemies) slaves. In English, the final e came to be pronounced as if Slave were a native name; this pronunciation was first written Slavé and later Slavey.
The names of the Slave River, Lesser Slave River, Great Slave Lake and Lesser Slave Lake do not necessarily derive from the people now known as Slavey in English.

A language spoken by the Slavey peoples.


Lowland Scots

The Germanic language variety traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, as distinct from Scottish Gaelic.


Supyire

A language, of the Senufo group, spoken in southeastern Mali


Kenyan Sign Language

A particular sign language, used in Kenya.


Zamboanga Chavacano

From Spanish chabacano (“poor taste”) and Zamboanga.

A Spanish-based creole language spoken in the Philippines.


Vietic

(linguistics) The Proto-Vietic language, the hypothetical last common ancestor of all Vietic languages.


Baure

An Arawakan language spoken in Beni, Bolivia.


Tai Dam

A Tai-Kadai (Kradai) language spoken by 700,000 people in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and China written in its own unique script, closely related to Lao and northern Thai.


Khasi

The Austroasiatic language of the Khasi people.


Munsee

From Munsee mŭnúsunk (“at the island”), from munús (“island”). Compare Minisink, a doublet from Munsee; cognate for example with Ojibwe minis (“island”), minising (“at the island”).

They stare at her like she’s just spoken in Munsee.

2020, N. K. Jemisin, The City We Became, Orbit, page 298:

An endangered Eastern Algonquian language, one of the two Lenape/Delaware languages (the other is called Unami), spoken aboriginally in the vicinity of what is now New York City.


Sudanese Arabic

A dialect of Arabic spoken in northern Sudan.


King's English

What, Iohn Rugby, I pray thee goe to the Caſement, and ſee if you can ſee my Maſter, Maſter Docter Caius comming: if he doe (I’faith) and finde any body in the houſe; here will be an old abuſing of Gods patience, and the Kings Engliſh.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 42, column 1:

"Spake it out, man," exclaimed the landlady; "spake it out in king's English; what for should ye be talking Indian in a room full of Christian folks?"

1823, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 13, in The Pioneers:

I venture to say that in a fifteen-minute conversation he would commit more horrible crimes against the king's English than even that new stable-boy of yours.

1921, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 14, in The Efficiency Expert:

The O.E.D. is unlike any other dictionary. . . . It wants every word, all the lingo: idioms and euphemisms, sacred or profane, dead or alive, the King’s English or the street’s.

2006 November 5, James Gleick, “Cyber-Neologoliferation”, in New York Times, retrieved 2010-08-15:

(often preceded by the) Especially in England, spoken or written English which is standard, characterised by grammatical correctness, proper usage of words and expressions, and (when spoken) formal British pronunciation.


Queen's English

But I am not so timid, and can speak the Queen's English plainly.

1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts”, in New Arabian Nights:

Picking up the different points of land was often the source of a joke, for our master was not blessed with the most perfect command of the Queen's English, and I overheard one morning the following nautical dialogue: "Look out, ahoy!" - speaking to the man in the foretop.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 33:

He murdered the Queen's English every time he spoke.

1913, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 22, in The Double Life Of Mr. Alfred Burton:

In the movies, bankable Brits fall into one of two categories: those who live in stately homes and possess a firm grasp of the Queen's English, and those who live in cottages or tenements and possess accents thick enough to caulk boats.

2006 April 7, Jeanette Catsoulis, “Movie Review: On a Clear Day (2005)”, in New York Times, retrieved 2010-08-15:

They've obviously never met before, but are getting on like a house on fire. Both are well-spoken and versed in the Queen's English. [this was possibly written before Queen Elizabeth II died]

2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 52:


Louisiana Creole French

Louisiana Creole
Louisiana Creole#English

(sometimes proscribed) Synonym of Louisiana Creole


Middle Armenian

Middle period of the Armenian language, written down in the 11-17th centuries. Developed from Old Armenian, replaced by modern Armenian.


Sylheti

From Sylhet + -i. Compare সিলেটি (śileṭi), سِلْهَتِيّ (silhatiyy), ꠍꠤꠟꠐꠤ (síloṭi).

A language or a dialect of Bengali spoken in the Sylhet Division of north-eastern Bangladesh, the Barak Valley of the Indian state of Assam and some parts of the Indian state of Tripura.


Proto-Malayo-Polynesian

A proposed common ancestor to the group of Malayo-Polynesian languages.


Adioukrou

A language spoken in the south of the Ivory Coast, chiefly in the subprefecture of Dabou.


Carrier

en-proper noun

Carrier (countable and uncountable, plural Carriers)

A Northern Athabaskan language spoken in Canada. Sometimes considered to be three separate languages: Southern Carrier, Northern Carrier and Central Carrier.


Dogrib

From dog + rib, a calque of Dogrib Tłı̨chǫ (“dog-flank”), from tłı̨ (“dog”) + echǫǫ̀ (“rib area, flank”), the dog-flank people, from a traditional legend.


Inuinnaqtun

A language or dialect of Inuktitut spoken by some Inuit.


Koro

an unwritten Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the East Kameng district


Kabardian

A North Caucasian language spoken in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, also known as East Circassian.

къэбэртай

language spoken in Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia


Ata

A Papuan language spoken on New Britain island, Papua New Guinea.


Romulan

From Romulus + -an. From the Star Trek franchise, in which they are described as being from the planet Romulus, drawing inspiration from the Roman origin story of Romulus and Remus.

constructed language
constructed language#English

A fictional language and a constructed language. The fictional language of the Romulans, a fictional extraterrestrial race from Star Trek. Created words and phrases from Star Trek have been latterly expanded upon to create a constructed language, that some among the Star Trek fandom attempt to build into a usable language.


Sogdian

An extinct Middle Iranian language spoken around Sogdiana.


Upper Lusatian

a Slavic language spoken in part of Saxony


Lower Lusatian

a Slavic language spoken in part of Brandenburg


Old Georgian

A language of the South Caucasian family, spoken between the 5ᵗʰ Century BC and the 17ᵗʰ Century AD when it evolved into the modern Georgian language.


Tajik Persian

Tajiki (variety of the Persian language)


Mannaean

the language of these people, possibly related to Hurrian


Big Nambas

From the size of the nambas, or penis sheath, worn by the men.

Their language, belonging to Oceanic branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language family.


Church Latin

The Latin language as spoken, written, and used in the Christian church and in church services.


Kag-Fer-Jiir-Koor-Ror-Us-Zuksun

A compound of the names of seven of its eight principal dialects. (The omitted dialect is Kur, also called Keri-Ni, Keli-Ni or Kelinchi, and not to be confused with Koor.)

A Niger-Congo language spoken in Nigeria.


Proto-Armenian

The reconstructed ancestor of the Armenian language.


Americanese

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have shattered the myth that Americanese has taken an unshakeable hold on the Anglophone world.

2010, Paul Bignell, Queen's English still rules: We say tomato... as does most of the world:

(informal, often derogatory) American English


Sinitic

en-adj

Sinitic (comparative more Sinitic, superlative most Sinitic)

more Sinitic (comparative)
most Sinitic (superlative)

From Latin Sīna (“China”) + -itic, as in Semitic.

չին-տիբեթական

relating to the group of Chinese languages


Liturgical Armenian

Old Armenian (language). The language is still used in some contexts by the Armenian Church, e.g. in some prayers and in monumental inscriptions.


Tereno

Language spoken in the Mato Grosso do Sul region of Brazil, written in the Latin script.


Alacalufan

A minor language family spoken primarily in Chile.


Yukaghir

Borrowed from Russian юкагир (jukagir). The part yuka- may derive from Southern Yukaghir йуукэ (jūke, “far, distant”) or juk (“small”), if not from a word from some other language, because the most common endonyms used by Yukaghirs are Southern Yukaghir одул (odul) and Northern Yukaghir вадул (wadul). The suffix -ghir is likely from Evenki -гир (-gir), which is a very common ending in names of Evenki, Even and Orochon tribes.

der

(linguistics) A language family consisting of two closely related languages spoken in Siberia.


Ket

The Yeniseian language of the Ket people.


Wiyot

The now-extinct Algic language of the Wiyot people.


Nar Phu

A Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Nepal.


Ao

Their language, belonging to the Tibeto-Burman language family.


Old Korean

The earliest stage of the Korean language, written in hanja, which evolved into Middle Korean by the 10ᵗʰ or 13ᵗʰ century, depending on the analysis.


New Norwegian

Nynorsk; Norwegian as spoken after 1500, and the written language that is based on this

nynorsk

the latest phase of the Norwegian language, spoken after 1500

նոր նորվեգերեն

one of the two major Norwegian (written) languages


De'ang

An ethnic minority group found in Southern China and Burma. Languages spoken in regions populated by this group include Palé, Riang, Rumai, and Shwe, all of which belong to the Palaungic sub-group of the Khasi-Khmuic family of languages.


Volscian

An Italic language formerly spoken by the Volsci and becoming extinct sometime after the 3rd century BC.


Sunda

Indonesian Pasundan (“former Sunda Kingdom area such as West Java, Banten and western Central Java”)

uder

Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the western part of the Malay archipelago

Sunda Strait, the strait between Java and Sumatra


Semnani

Any of a group of languages spoken in the Semnan province of Iran


Limburgic

en-adj

Limburgic (comparative more Limburgic, superlative most Limburgic)

more Limburgic (comparative)
most Limburgic (superlative)

Limburgian, Limburgish (of, from, or relating to Limburg, its people or their language)


Galician-Portuguese

The division of Romance languages that encompasses Galician, Portuguese, Eonavian and Fala.

The common ancestor of these languages, spoken in the Middle Ages, also called Old Portuguese.


Adamorobe Sign Language

An indigenous sign language used in Adamorobe, a village of Ghana.


Uab Meto

The Malayo-Polynesian language of West Timor and Oecusse District of East Timor.


Proto-Eskimo

Hypothetical prehistoric ancestor of all Eskimo languages, including Yupik and Inuit.

The category of Proto-Eskimo on Wiktionary


Kuanua

the language spoken by the Tolai people of New Britain in Papua New Guinea.


Haitian Vodoun Culture Language

A specialized vocabulary (perhaps not strictly a language) used in Haiti for religion, song, and dance purposes.


Zeelandic

A regional language similar to Dutch, spoken in the Dutch province of Zeeland and on the South Holland island of Goeree-Overflakkee.


Yevanic

From Hebrew יָוָן (yaván, “Greece”) + -ic.

The nearly extinct language of the Romaniote Jews of Greece.


Minica Huitoto

An Huitoto language of the Witotoan family spoken in western South America.


Bajau

Learned borrowing from Indonesian Bajau bajau.

lbor

1937, W. F. Schneeberger, A Short Vocabulary of the Banggai and Bajau Language:

2007, Mark T. Miller, A Grammar of West Coast Bajau, PhD Thesis.

(linguistic) The native language spoken by the Bajau people (the indigenous of Bajau island in Indonesia).


Lepontic

An extinct language attested in Europe until ~100BC, usually considered to be a member of the Celtic family.


Arvanitic

/ˌɑːvəˈnɪtɪk/

From Arvanite + -ic, based on Greek αρβανίτικα (arvanítika).

A form of the Albanian language spoken by a minority in Greece.


Algerian Arabic

A group of Arabic dialects spoken primarily in Algeria.


Kutenai

The language isolate spoken by this people.

British Columbia
British Columbia#English

A river in British Columbia, Canada and Montana and Idaho, United States.


Yucatec Maya Sign Language

A sign language used in Yucatán, Mexico.


Maritime Sign Language

British Sign Language
British Sign Language

An endangered sign language descended from Old British Sign Language used in Atlantic Canada.


Ecuadorian Sign Language

The sign language used by the deaf community of Ecuador.


Quebec Sign Language

A sign language of the French Sign Language family used primarily in Quebec.


Hawaii Pidgin Sign Language

A sign language used in Hawaii. The language is named after the Hawaiian Pidgin spoken language and is not itself a pidgin.


Japanese Sign Language

Sign language used in Japan. ISO 639-3 code: jsl.


Jhankot Sign Language

The sign language used in Jhankot, a village in western Nepal.


Kata Kolok

A sign language used in parts of northern Bali, Indonesia.


Malaysian Sign Language

The sign language used in Malaysia, ISO 639-3 code: xml.


Danish Sign Language

The sign language used by the deaf community of Denmark.


Dutch Sign Language

The sign language used by the deaf community of the Netherlands.

Flemish Sign Language

which is distinct from DSL, despite spoken Flemish being a variety of spoken Dutch


Estonian Sign Language

The sign language used by the deaf community of Estonia.


Finnish Sign Language

A variant of sign language commonly used in Finland.


Flemish Sign Language

The sign language used by the deaf community of Flanders.

Dutch Sign Language

which is distinct from FSL, despite spoken Flemish being a variety of spoken Dutch


Greek Sign Language

The sign language used by the deaf community of Greece.


Icelandic Sign Language

The sign language of Iceland's deaf community.


Slovenian Sign Language

A sign language used in Serbia and Slovenia.


Swiss-German Sign Language

The primary sign language of Liechtenstein and German-speaking areas of Switzerland.