Meanings
- 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 1652 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 93The 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 50Synonyms: Proto-West Germanic
- 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
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
West Germanic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/West%20Germanic
“West Germanic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/West%20Germanic. Accessed November 4, 2026.
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.