# British

Pronunciation: say "BRIT-ish" /ˈbɹɪtɪʃ/

## Adjective

1. Relating to the United Kingdom or Great Britain, or to its people, land, culture, or institutions.
   - Simple: From or connected with Britain (the United Kingdom) or its people.
   - _The British government announced new spending plans._
   - _Although born abroad, she has always considered herself British._
3. Relating to the British Empire or the Commonwealth of Nations.
   - Simple: Belonging to the British Empire or the group of countries linked to it.
   - _She studied British rule in India during the colonial period._
   - _Troops from Canada, Australia and the other British dominions fought in the First World War._
4. Relating to the variety of English spoken and written in Britain.
   - Simple: Belonging to the kind of English used in Britain.
   - _The novel was edited to follow British spelling and punctuation._
   - _His essay used British vocabulary such as 'flat' and 'queue'._
5. Relating to the British Isles, the island group off the northwestern coast of Europe.
   - Simple: Belonging to the group of islands known as the British Isles.
   - _The naturalist cataloged British wildlife from Ireland to the Hebrides._
   - _The old atlas showed every British island, from Ireland to Shetland, on a single page._
7. Relating to England or the English specifically, in a loose use that leaves out Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: Used in casual talk to mean English: from or about England.
   - _Her grandparents are Irish and Scottish, but her husband's family is British, from Kent._
   - _The Welsh fans sang their anthem, and the British fans across the stadium answered with "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot."_
8. Describing something belonging to the ancient Britons, who lived in southern Britain before the Anglo-Saxons came, such as their tribes, lands, or Brythonic language.
   - Simple: Belonging to the ancient Celtic people who lived in southern Britain long ago.
   - _The hillfort had been a British stronghold long before the Saxons arrived._
   - _Roman accounts describe British warriors painted for battle._

## Noun

2. The people of the United Kingdom or Great Britain, taken as a whole.
   - Simple: The people who come from or live in Britain (the United Kingdom).
   - _The British elected a new government last spring._
   - _Surveys suggest the British value their privacy highly._
9. The ancient Britons themselves, as a people: those who lived in southern Britain before the Anglo-Saxon invasion and the migrations that followed.
   - Simple: The people who lived in southern Britain long before the Anglo-Saxons came.
   - _The advancing Anglo-Saxons gradually drove the British into Wales and Cornwall._
   - _Caesar's account gives an early Roman view of the British._

## Proper noun

6. The English language as used in Britain, especially when treated as distinct from American English. *(US)*
   - Simple: The English used in Britain, especially when compared with American English.
   - _Her American friends insist the actors on that crime drama are speaking British._
   - _He claimed British and American were really two different languages._

## Noun

10. The Welsh people; that is, the inhabitants of Wales. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The Welsh: the people of Wales.

## Other meanings

- (proper noun) The language of the ancient Britons, a Celtic tongue that scholars also call Common Brittonic.

## Origin

From Middle English Brittish, from Old English Brettisc. The spelling with a single -t- appeared in the 13th century under the influence of Medieval Latin Britannicus, though the -tt- spelling continued alongside it into at least the 18th century. It came to refer to the island of Great Britain from around 1400, and as a noun for the British people from around 1600.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/british (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).