The word British is an adjective referring in various ways to the United Kingdom, or the island of Great Britain, and its people.
- Geography
- British Isles, an archipelago in north-western Europe
- British Islands, a legal term describing the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, collectively
- British Commonwealth, an organisation of member-states mostly from the former British Empire
- British Columbia, a province of Canada
- People
- British people, Britons, or Brits, subjects of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, one of the Channel Islands, or of one of the British overseas territories, and their descendants
- Britons (historical), ancient Celtic inhabitants of the island of Great Britain south of the Firth of Forth.
- British nationality law, which governs the citizens of the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the British Crown dependencies
- Language
- British English, the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom
- British language (Celtic), also known as Brythonic, the ancient Celtic language once spoken in Britain, ancestral to Welsh, Cornish and Breton
- History
- British Raj, rule of India in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century
- British Empire (historical), the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom when it was an imperial power
- Other
- British cuisine
- British Airways, flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom
Famous quotes containing the word british:
“The trouble with tea is that originally it was quite a good drink. So a group of the most eminent British scientists put their heads together, and made complicated biological experiments to find a way of spoiling it. To the eternal glory of British science their labour bore fruit.”
—George Mikes (b. 1912)
“The inhabitants of St. John’s and vicinity are described by an English traveler as “singularly unprepossessing,” and before completing his period he adds, “besides, they are generally very much disaffected to the British crown.” I suspect that that “besides” should have been a “because.””
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Nothing could be more inappropriate to American literature than its English source since the Americans are not British in sensibility.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)