Old English

Definitions

1. The ancestor language of Modern English, also called Anglo-Saxon, spoken in most of Britain from about 400 to 1100.
2. Archaic English (Early Modern English) or Middle English speech or writing, or an imitation of this: "old" English.
   colloquial, nonstandard, proscribed
3. The form of black letter used by 16th-century English printers.
   historical
4. A historical ethnic group in Ireland descended from Norman invaders from Britain from the 12th century to the 17th century.
   Ireland

Equivalents

Examples

“Those who claim⟳ that they've been reading Shakespeare in Old English betray their ignorance: they haven't.”

CEFR level