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British . In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
British , but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
British in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
British you have here. The definition of the word
British will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
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English
Etymology
From Middle English Brittish , from Old English Brettisċ .[ 1]
The spelling with single -t- appears in the 13th century under the influence of Medieval Latin Britannicus , but spelling with -tt- persists alongside -t- during the 13th to 17th centuries.
In reference to the island of Great Britain from ca. 1400 (Latin natio Anglica sive Britannica , Brittisshe occean 1398, the Britishe nacion 1548).
As a noun, referring to the British people, British soldiers, etc. from ca. 1600.
Pronunciation
Noun
British pl (plural only ) ( usually with definite article )
The residents or inhabitants of Great Britain .
Synonyms: Britons , ( informal ) Brits
The citizens or inhabitants of the United Kingdom .
( history ) The earlier inhabitants of southern Britain, prior to the Anglo-Saxon invasion and subsequent migrations.
Synonym: Britons
( obsolete ) Synonym of Welsh : the Welsh people .
Translations
citizens or inhabitants of Britain
Afrikaans: Britte pl
Arabic: بِرِيطَانِيّ (ar) m ( biriṭāniyy ) , بِرِيطَانِيَّة f ( biriṭāniyya )
Burmese: ဗြိတိလျှ ( bri.ti.hlya. )
Catalan: britànics (ca) m pl
Chinese:
Cantonese: 英國人 / 英国人 ( jing1 gwok3 jan3 )
Mandarin: 英國人 / 英国人 (zh) ( yīngguórén )
Czech: Britové (cs) m pl
Danish: brite c
Dutch: Brit (nl) m , Britse (nl) f
Estonian: britt (et)
Faroese: breti m
Finnish: britit (fi)
French: Britannique (fr) m or f
Galician: británicos m pl
German: Briten (de) pl , Brite (de) m , Britin (de) f
Greek: Βρετανός (el) m ( Vretanós ) , Βρετανή (el) f ( Vretaní )
Hindi: ब्रिटिश (hi) ( briṭiś ) , अंग्रेज़ी (hi) ( aṅgrezī )
Hungarian: brit (hu) , nagy-britanniai
Icelandic: Breti m
Indonesian: Bangsa Inggris
Italian: britannici (it) m pl
Japanese: イギリス人 (ja) ( イギリスじん, igirisujin ) , 英国人 (ja) ( えいこくじん, eikokujin )
Javanese: Bangsa Inggeris
Lithuanian: britas (lt) m , britė (lt) f
Macedonian: Британци pl ( Britanci )
Marathi: ब्रिटिश ( briṭiś )
Navajo: Óola Bichʼahní dineʼé
Norwegian:
Bokmål: brite (no) m
Nynorsk: brite m
Persian: بریتانیایی ( beritâniyâyi )
Polish: Brytyjczycy pl
Portuguese: britânicos m pl
Romanian: britanic (ro) m , britanici m pl
Russian: брита́нец (ru) m ( británec ) , брита́нка (ru) f ( británka ) , брита́нцы (ru) m pl ( británcy )
Scottish Gaelic: Breatannaich m
Slovak: Brit m
Slovene: Británec m , Británka f
Spanish: británicos (es) m pl
Swedish: britt (sv) c , brittiska (sv) c
Turkish: İngiliz (tr)
Urdu: انگریز ( aṅgrez )
the citizens or inhabitants of the UK
Afrikaans: Britte pl
Burmese: ဗြိတိလျှ ( bri.ti.hlya. )
Catalan: britànics (ca) m pl
Chinese:
Mandarin: 英國人 / 英国人 (zh) ( yīngguórén )
Czech: Britové (cs) m pl
Danish: brite c
Dutch: Brit (nl) m , Britse (nl) f
Estonian: britt (et)
Faroese: breti m
Finnish: britit (fi)
French: Britannique (fr) m or f
German: Briten (de) pl , Brite (de) m , Britin (de) f
Greek: Βρετανός (el) m ( Vretanós ) , Βρετανή (el) f ( Vretaní )
Hebrew: בריטי (he) m ( briti )
Hindi: अंग्रेज़ m ( aṅgrez ) , अंग्रेज़िन f ( aṅgrezin ) , ब्रिटिश (hi) ( briṭiś )
Hungarian: brit (hu) , egyesült királysági , egyesült királyságbeli
Indonesian: Orang Inggris
Italian: britannici (it) m pl
Japanese: イギリス人 (ja) ( イギリスじん, igirisujin ) , 英国人 (ja) ( えいこくじん, eikokujin )
Javanese: Wong Inggeris
Lithuanian: britas (lt) m , britė (lt) f
Macedonian: Британци pl ( Britanci )
Marathi: ब्रिटिश ( briṭiś )
Norwegian:
Bokmål: brite (no) m
Nynorsk: brite m
Polish: Brytyjczycy pl
Portuguese: britânicos m pl
Romanian: britanic (ro) m , britanic (ro) m pl
Russian: брита́нец (ru) m ( británec ) , брита́нка (ru) f ( británka ) , брита́нцы (ru) m pl ( británcy )
Scottish Gaelic: Breatannaich m
Slovak: Brit m
Spanish: británicos (es) m pl , reinounidenses m pl or f pl
Swedish: britt (sv) c , brittiska (sv) c
Turkish: İngiliz (tr)
history: ancient inhabitants of the southern part of Britain
Proper noun
British
The Celtic language of the ancient Britons; Common Brittonic .
( chiefly US ) The British English language.
Translations
the British English language
Translations to be checked
Adjective
British (comparative more British , superlative most British )
Of Britain .
Of the United Kingdom .
Of the Commonwealth of Nations , or the British Empire .
( historical ) Of the ancient inhabitants of the southern part of Britain; Brythonic .
( historical ) Of the British Isles .
Of British English .
Derived terms
Translations
of Britain
Afrikaans: Brits
Albanian: britanik (sq)
Arabic: بِرِيطَانِيّ (ar) ( biriṭāniyy ) , بَرِيطَانِيّ (ar) ( barīṭāniyy )
Armenian: բրիտանական ( britanakan )
Assamese: ব্ৰিটিছ ( britis ) , বিলাতী ( bilati )
Azerbaijani: britaniyalı , britaniya
Belarusian: брыта́нскі ( brytánski )
Bengali: ব্রিটিশ (bn) ( briṭiś )
Bulgarian: брита́нски ( británski )
Burmese: ဗြိတိသျှ ( bri.ti.hsya. )
Catalan: britànic (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 英國的 / 英国的 (zh) ( Yīngguó de )
Czech: britský (cs)
Danish: britisk
Dutch: Brits (nl)
Esperanto: brita (eo)
Estonian: briti
Faroese: bretskur
Finnish: brittiläinen (fi) , britti - , britannialainen
French: britannique (fr) m or f
Georgian: ბრიტანული ( briṭanuli )
German: britisch (de) , großbritannisch (de)
Greek: βρετανικός (el) m ( vretanikós )
Hebrew: בְּרִיטִי (he) ( briti )
Hindi: अंग्रेज़ी (hi) ( aṅgrezī ) , ब्रिटिश (hi) ( briṭiś )
Hungarian: brit (hu)
Icelandic: breskur (is)
Indonesian: Inggris (id)
Irish: Briotanach
Italian: britannico (it)
Japanese: イギリスの (ja) ( Igirisu no ) , 英国の (ja) ( Eikoku no )
Kazakh: британдық ( britandyq ) , британиялық ( britaniälyq )
Khmer: ប៊្រីតថេន ( priittheen )
Korean: 영국의 (ko) ( yeonggug-ui )
Kyrgyz: британиялык ( britaniyalık )
Latin: Britanniae
Latvian: britu , britisks
Lithuanian: britų , britiškas
Luxembourgish: brittesch
Macedonian: британски ( britanski )
Maori: a Peretānia , o Peretānia
Norwegian:
Bokmål: britisk
Nynorsk: britisk
Occitan: britanic
Persian: بِریتانِیایی ( beritâniyâyi )
Polish: brytyjski (pl)
Portuguese: britânico (pt)
Romanian: britanic (ro)
Russian: брита́нский (ru) ( británskij )
Scottish Gaelic: Breatannach
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: британски
Roman: britanski (sh)
Slovak: britský (sk)
Slovene: británski (sl)
Spanish: británico (es)
Swedish: brittisk (sv)
Tajik: британӣ ( britani )
Thai: บริเตน ( brì-dteen )
Turkish: İngiliz (tr)
Ukrainian: брита́нський (uk) ( brytánsʹkyj )
Urdu: بَرْطانْوِی ( bartānvī ) , بِرْٹِش ( birṭiś ) , اَن٘گْریزی (ur) ( aṅgrezī )
Uyghur: برىتانىيىلىك ( britaniyilik ) , برىتانىيە ( britaniye )
Uzbek: britaniyalik , britaniya
Vietnamese: Anh (vi) , đảo Anh (vi)
Welsh: Prydeinig (cy)
Yiddish: בריטיש ( british )
history: of the ancient inhabitants of the southern part of Britain
Translations to be checked
References
Further reading
James A. H. Murray et al. , editors (1884–1928 ), “British, a. (sb. )”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary ), volume I (A–B) , London: Clarendon Press , →OCLC , pages 1,113–1,114 .