British

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:

    “They have to prove their superiority every day. It’s their one tremendous weakness.”
    —Edmund H. North, British screenwriter, and Lewis Gilbert. Captain Shepard (Kenneth More)

    “It is very considerably smaller than Australia and British Somaliland put together. As things stand at present there is nothing much the Texans can do about this, and ... they are inclined to shy away from the subject in ordinary conversation, muttering defensively about the size of oranges.”
    —Alex Atkinson, British humor writer. repr. In Present Laughter, ed. Alan Coren (1982)

    “It is said that the British Empire is very large and respectable, and that the United States are a first-rate power. We do not believe that a tide rises and falls behind every man which can float the British Empire like a chip, if he should ever harbor it in his mind.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)