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However, there are exceptions: weep, groom and stone (from Old English) occupy a slightly higher register than cry, brush and rock (from French). Words taken directly from Latin and Ancient Greek are generally perceived as colder, more technical, and more medical or scientific – compare life (Old English) with biology ( classical compound ...
They were first adopted into English from early Old French, and the ending was spelled ‑our, ‑or or ‑ur. [9] After the Norman Conquest, the ending became ‑our to match the later Old French spelling. [10] The ‑our ending was used not only in new English borrowings, but was also applied to the earlier borrowings that had used ‑or. [9]
Several pronunciation patterns contrast American and British English accents. The following lists a few common ones. Most American accents are rhotic, preserving the historical /r/ phoneme in all contexts, while most British accents of England and Wales are non-rhotic, only preserving this sound before vowels but dropping it in all other contexts; thus, farmer rhymes with llama for Brits but ...
The Normans had a strong influence on English personal names. [19] Old English names such as Alfred, Wulfstan, Aelfric, Harold, Godwin and Athelstan largely fell out of fashion and were replaced with Hebrew, Greek, or Christian names, such as John, Peter and Simon, as well as Normanized Germanic names like William, Richard, Henry, Robert, Roger ...
Partly because English has never had any official regulating authority for spelling, such as the Spanish Real Academia Española, the French Académie française, the German Council for German Orthography, the Danish Sprognævn, and the Thai Royal Society, English spelling is considered irregular and complex compared to that of other languages.
It can refer to a set of bites or small snacks, or a small dish served before a main course. The main dish or "plat de résistance" comes after the entrée. In American English, the meaning has migrated to "main dish". In other varieties of English it maintains its French meaning. épée a fencing weapon descended from the duelling sword.
English words gave way to borrowings from Anglo-Norman following the Norman Conquest as English lost ground as a language of prestige. Anglo-Norman was used in schools and dominated literature, nobility and higher life, leading a wealth of French loanwords to enter English over the course of several centuries—English only returned to courts of law in 1362, and to government in the following ...
American English: AuE Australian English: BahE Bahamian English: BarE Barbadian English: CaE Canadian English: CIE Channel Island English: EnE English English: FiE Fiji English: InE Indian English: IrE Irish English: JSE Jamaican English: NZE New Zealand English: PaE Palauan English: ScE Scottish English: SIE Solomon Islands English: SAE South ...