# Old English

> English word · Proper noun

## 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.
3. The form of black letter used by 16th-century English printers.
4. A historical ethnic group in Ireland descended from Norman invaders from Britain from the 12th century to the 17th century.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/old-english