English is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, whose speakers,
called Anglophones, originated in early medieval England on the island of Great Britain.[4][5][6] The
namesake of the language is the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to Britain. It
is the most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the global influences of the former British
Empire (succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations) and the United States.[7] English is the third-most
spoken native language, after Standard Chinese and Spanish;[8] it is also the most widely learned second
language in the world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers.
English is either the official language or one of the official languages in 59 sovereign states (such
as India, Ireland, and Canada). In some other countries, it is the sole or dominant language for historical
reasons without being explicitly defined by law (such as in the United States and United Kingdom).[9] It is
a co-official language of the United Nations, the European Union, and many other international and
regional organisations. It has also become the de facto lingua franca of diplomacy, science, technology,
international trade, logistics, tourism, aviation, entertainment, and the Internet.[10] English accounts for
at least 70% of total speakers of the Germanic language branch, and as of 2021, Ethnologue estimated
that there were over 1.5 billion speakers worldwide.[3]
Old English emerged from a group of West Germanic dialects spoken by the Anglo-Saxons. Late Old
English borrowed some grammar and core vocabulary from Old Norse, a North Germanic language.[11][12]
[13]
Then, Middle English borrowed vocabulary extensively from French dialects, which are the source of
approximately 28% of Modern English words, and from Latin, which is the source of an additional 28%.
[14]
As such, though most of its total vocabulary comes from Romance languages, Modern English's
grammar, phonology, and most commonly used words in everyday use keep it genealogically classified
under the Germanic branch. It exists on a dialect continuum with Scots and is then most closely related
to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages.
Classification
Anglic languages
English
Scots
within the Anglo-Frisian languages, which also include
Frisian (West, North, Saterland);
within the North Sea Germanic languages, which also include
Low German/Saxon;
within the West Germanic languages, which also include
Dutch in Europe and Afrikaans in Africa
...... German (High):
Central; in Lux.: Luxembourgish
Upper
...... Yiddish A family tree of the West Germanic language family
English is an Indo-European language and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic
languages.[15] Old English originated from a Germanic tribal and linguistic continuum along
the Frisian North Sea coast, whose languages gradually evolved into the Anglic languages in the British
Isles, and into the Frisian languages and Low German/Low Saxon on the continent. The Frisian
languages, which together with the Anglic languages form the Anglo-Frisian languages, are the closest
living relatives of English. Low German/Low Saxon is also closely related, and sometimes English, the
Frisian languages, and Low German are grouped together as the North Sea Germanic languages, though
this grouping remains debated.[12] Old English evolved into Middle English, which in turn evolved into
Modern English.[16] Particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other
Anglic languages, including Scots[17] and the extinct Fingallian dialect and Yola language of Ireland.[18]
Like Icelandic and Faroese, the development of English in the British Isles isolated it from the continental
Germanic languages and influences, and it has since diverged considerably. Eng
