English language
English
Pronunciation
/ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/[1]
Spoken in
(see below)
Total speakers
First language: 309–400 million
Second language: 199–1,400
million[2][3]
Overall: 500 million–1.8 billion[4][3]
Ranking
3 (native speakers)[5]
Total: 1 or 2 [6]
Language family
Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
Anglo–Frisian
English
Writing system
Latin (English variant)
Official status
Official language
in
53 countries
United Nations
European Union
Commonwealth of Nations
NATO
NAFTA
UKUSA
Regulated by
No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1
en
ISO 639-2
eng
ISO 639-3
eng
Countries where English is a majority language are dark blue; countries
where it is an official but not a majority language are light blue. English
is also one of the official languages of the European Union.
English is a West Germanic language that originated in
Anglo-Saxon England. As a result of the military, eco-
nomic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the
British Empire during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries
and of the United States since the late 19th century, it
has become the
lingua franca in many parts of the
world.[7] It is used extensively as a second language and
as an official language in Commonwealth countries and
many international organizations.
Historically, English originated from several dialects,
now called Old English, which were brought to Great Bri-
tain by Anglo-Saxon settlers beginning in the 5th cen-
tury. The language was heavily influenced by the Old
Norse language of Viking invaders. After the Norman
conquest, Old English developed into Middle English,
borrowing heavily from the Norman (Anglo-French)
vocabulary and spelling conventions. Modern English
developed from there and continues to adopt foreign
words from a variety of languages, as well as coining
new words. A significant number of English words, espe-
cially technical words, have been constructed based on
roots from Latin and ancient Greek.
Significance
Modern English, sometimes described as the first global
lingua franca,[8][9] is the dominan