English

• adj. 英国人的；英国的；英文的
• n. 英语；英国人；英文；英格兰人
• vt. 把…译成英语

助记提示

中文词源

来自Angles, 词源同angle. 来自在公元5世纪入侵英国的日耳曼盎格鲁人，因其生活在德国西北部一角状土地而得名。

英文词源

English

English: [OE] The people and language of England take their name from the Angles, a West Germanic people who settled in Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. They came originally from the Angul district of Schleswig, an area of the Jutland peninsula to the south of modern Denmark. This had a shape vaguely reminiscent of a fishhook, and so its inhabitants used their word for ‘fishhook’ (a relative of modern English angler and angling) to name it.

From earliest times the adjective English seems to have been used for all the Germanic peoples who came to Britain, including the Saxons and Jutes, as well as the Angles (at the beginning of the 8th century Bede referred to them collectively as gens anglorum ‘race of Angles’). The earliest record of its use with reference to the English language is by Alfred the Great.
=> angler, angling

English (n.1)

"the people of England; the speech of England," noun use of Old English adjective Englisc (contrasted to Denisc, Frencisce, etc.), "of or pertaining to the Angles," from Engle (plural) "the Angles," the name of one of the Germanic groups that overran the island 5c., supposedly so-called because Angul, the land they inhabited on the Jutland coast, was shaped like a fish hook (see angle (n.)). Reinforced by Anglo-French engleis. Cognates: Dutch Engelsch, German Englisch, Danish Engelsk, French Anglais (Old French Engelsche), Spanish Inglés, Italian Inglese.

Englisc was used from earliest times without distinction for all the Germanic invaders -- Angles, Saxon, Jutes (Bede's gens Anglorum) -- and applied to their group of related languages by Alfred the Great. "The name English for the language is thus older than the name England for the country" [OED]. After 1066, of the native population of England (as distinguished from Normans and French occupiers), a distinction which lasted about a generation. But as late as Robert of Gloucester's "Chronicle" (c. 1300) it also was sometimes distinguished from "Saxon" ("Þe englisse in þe norþ half, þe saxons bi souþe").

"... when Scots & others are likely to be within earshot, Britain & British should be inserted as tokens, but no more, of what is really meant" [Fowler]

In pronunciation, "En-" has become "In-," perhaps through the frequency of -ing- words and the relative rarity of -e- before -ng- in the modern language, but the older spelling has remained. Meaning "English language or literature as a subject at school" is from 1889. Old English meaning the Anglo-Saxon language before the Conquest is attested from c. 1200 in an account of the native (as opposed to Latin) month names.

English (n.2)

"spin imparted to a ball" (as in billiards), 1860, from French anglé "angled" (see angle (n.)), which is similar to Anglais "English."

English (adj.)

Old English, "belonging to the English people;" late 13c., "belonging to England," from English (n.1). The adverb Englishly (mid-15c.) is rare.

english (v.)

"to translate into English," late 14c., from English (n.1) in the language sense. Related: Englished; englishing.

双语例句

1. English has hurt me a thousand times, but I still regard it as my first love.

英语伤我千百遍，我待英语如初恋。

来自金山词霸 每日一句

2. The papers in maths and English are very testing.

数学试卷和英语试卷很难。

来自柯林斯例句

3. Why are Geography, Drama, Art and English in the ascendant?

为什么地理、戏剧、艺术和英语逐渐受宠？

来自柯林斯例句

4. This courtroom battle has been a poor advert for English justice.

这场法庭上的争论为英格兰的司法制度做了一次拙劣的广告。

来自柯林斯例句

5. Teddy clucked his tongue like a disapproving English matron.

特迪咂了咂舌头，活像个不以为然的英国女舍监。

来自柯林斯例句