West Germanic

proper noun

The branch of the Germanic language family consisting of English, Frisian languages, Dutch, Afrikaans, Low Saxon languages, German, and Yiddish, and their immediate predecessors.

Similar
Proto-West GermanicWest Germanic language

Meanings

proper noun
  1. human sciencesThe branch of the Germanic language family consisting of English, Frisian languages, Dutch, Afrikaans, Low Saxon languages, German, and Yiddish, and their immediate predecessors.
  2. The presumed unattested ancestor of these languages (more properly called Proto-West Germanic).

    German and English are sister languages, descended from West Germanic.

    1940, Charles Hart Handschin, Modern-Language Teaching, World Book Company, page 165
    2 more examples

    The next logical step is to note that the Scandinavian languages, descended from a North Germanic parent, are more distant historically from English than are Dutch and German, which, like English, are descended from West Germanic.

    p. 1993, a. 2002, in Donald McLean Lamberton (editor), The Economics of Language, Edward Elgar Publishing (2002), page 93

    The degree of actual Dutch influence on the Norwich dialect is somewhat difficult to determine for the rather obvious reason that Dutch and English are closely related languages, both descended from West Germanic, and resemblances between Dutch and forms of English are therefore most usually due not to the influence of Dutch on English, or vice versa, but to their common origin.

    2010, Peter Trudgill, Investigations in Sociohistorical Linguistics: Stories of Colonisation and Contact, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 50

    Synonyms: Proto-West Germanic

adjective
  1. Of or relating to these languages.

Synonyms & antonyms

proper nounThe presumed unattested ancestor of these languages (more properly called Proto-West Germanic).

More synonyms by meaning

nouna branch of the Germanic languages

Similar
West Germanic language

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Translations

Czech západogermánské jazyky
  • západogermánské jazykyTranslations
Dutch West-Germaans
  • West-GermaansTranslations
German Westgermanisch, westgermanisch
  • WestgermanischTranslations
  • westgermanischTranslations
Russian западногерма́нский
  • западногерма́нский (zapadnogermánskij)Translations
Ukrainian західнонімецький
  • західнонімецький (zaxidnonimecʹkyj)Translations
Vietnamese ngữ chi German Tây
  • ngữ chi German TâyTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

West Germanic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/West%20Germanic

MLA

“West Germanic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/West%20Germanic. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “West Germanic,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/West%20Germanic.

Source: West Germanic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.