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What do Germans call the English?

Asked by Anonymous Oct 03, 2026 8 views 1 answers
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Answered Oct 06, 2026
What Germans call the English includes several terms, with standard being Engländer for English person and Englisch for English language, with historical and colloquial terms. In standard German, English person is Engländer, plural Engländer, and English people are die Engländer, neutral term, and England is England. For English language, Germans call it Englisch. For British more broadly, Germans use Briten for Brits, from Britannien for Britain. Colloquial or slang terms include Tommy, historical term from WWI and WWII where Germans called British soldiers Tommies, from Tommy Atkins generic British soldier name, similar to British calling Germans Jerry. Another historical term is Inselaffen meaning island monkeys, derogatory slang used in past, not polite today. For English as in from England, Germans distinguish between English and British, using Engländer specifically for English from England and Brite for British from UK. So Germans call English Engländer for person, Englisch for language, Briten for British people generally, Tommy as historical soldier slang, and England as England. Modern polite term is Engländer for English man and Engländerin for English woman, with no derogatory official term, just standard geographic terms.
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