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:

    “Anthropology is the science which tells us that people are the same the whole world over—except when they are different.”
    —Nancy Banks-Smith, British columnist. Quoted in Guardian (London, July 21, 1988)

    “The British are a self-distrustful, diffident people, agreeing with alacrity that they are neither successful nor clever, and only modestly claiming that they have a keener sense of humour, more robust common sense, and greater staying power as a nation than all the rest of the world put together.”
    —Quoted in Fourth Leaders from the Times (1950)

    “Nothing could be more inappropriate to American literature than its English source since the Americans are not British in sensibility.”
    —Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)