Macmillan Dictionary

Did you know?

Click any word in a definition or example to find the entry for that word

Languages spoken in the past

Anglo-Saxon

noun

the language of the Anglo-Saxons

Greek

noun

the language that was spoken in ancient Greece

L.

abbreviation

Latin

Latin

noun

the language that people spoke in ancient Rome. Modern European languages such as Italian, Spanish, and French developed from it.

Latin

adjective

written in Latin

Latinate

adjective

typical of Latin, or coming from Latin

Manx

noun

the language that people spoke on the Isle of Man in the past

Norse

noun

a language that people spoke in Scandinavia in the past

Old English

noun

the oldest form of the English language, spoken from around the year 450 to the year 1150

Persian

noun

the language of ancient Persia

Proto-Indo-European

noun

the ancient language that experts believe all the indo-european languages developed from

Sanskrit

noun

an ancient language of India that is used mainly in literature and Hindu religious writings

charticle

a news article that consists of a chart … and only has a small amount of text

BuzzWord Article

Word of the Day

proton

the part of the nucleus of an atom that has a positive electrical charge

Open Dictionary

never event

an event that should never occur in a healthcare setting …

add a word

Blog

A must for anyone with an interest in the changing face of language. The Macmillan Dictionary blog explores English as it is spoken around the world today.

global English and language change from our blog