English Language Facts - Interesting facts about the English Language

Here is a collection of some useful facts about the English language. If you are in search of some ’did you know facts’ about the English language then this collection of interesting facts may prove useful to you. Did you know that English is the most widespread language in the world and is more widely spoken and written than any other language?

Interesting Facts about the English language

Here is the list of some Interesting and Funny Facts of English Language.

1. The word ’almost’ is the longest in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
2. The most commonly used word in English conversation is ’I’.
3. No words in the English language rhyme with the words angel, angst, breadth, bulb, depth, eighth, month, ninth, orange, purple, scalp or twelfth.
4. The most commonly used letter in the alphabet is E.
5. The least used letter in the alphabet is Q.
6. ’I am.’ is the shortest complete sentence.
7. Skiing is the only word with double i.
8. Dreamt is the only word that ends in mt.
9. The word "set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.
10. The first letters of the months July through to November spell JASON.

11. There are only 4 words in the English language which end in ’dous’. They are: hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous. are only 4 words in the english language which end in ’dous’. they are: hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous. >
12. The oldest word in the English language is ’town’.
13. The words ’angry’ and ’hungry’ are the only two that end in ’gry’.
14. ’Bookkeeper’ and ’bookkeeping’ are the only 2 words in the English language with three consecutive double letters.
15. The word ’Strengths’ is the longest word in the English language with just one vowel.
16. The dot on top of the letter ’i’ is called a tittle.
17. The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
18. The past tense for the English word ’dare’ is ’durst’.
19. The word ’testify’ derived from a time when men were required to swear on their testicles.
20. The first English dictionary was written in 1755.
21. ’Stewardesses’ is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
22. The word old English word ’juke’ meaning dancing lends its name to the juke box.
23. 1 out of every 8 letters written is an e.
24. There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, here, ere, therein, herein. is a seven letter word in the english language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, here, ere, therein, herein. >
25. The longest one syllable word in the English language is ’screeched’.
26. The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.
27. All pilots on international flights identify themselves in English regardless of their country of origin.
28. "Underground" is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und."
29. The expression to ’knuckle down’ originated from playing marbles (players used to put their knuckles to the ground for their best shots).
30. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable."
31. The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every letter of the alphabet!
32. The sentence "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs" uses every letter of the alphabet and uses the least letters to do so!
33. ’Q’ is the least used letter in the English alphabet.
34. Goddessship is the only word in the English language with a triple letter.
35. "Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.
36. The word "alphabet" is derived from the first two letters in the Greek alphabet: "alpha" and "beta". word "alphabet" is derived from the first two letters in the greek alphabet: "alpha" and "beta". >
37. In the English language there are only three words that have a letter that repeats six times. Degenerescence (six e’s), Indivisibility (six i’s), and nonannouncement (six n’s).
38. The only three words in the English language to have 2 consecutive u’s is vacuum, residuum, and continuum.

A few useful facts about English

• English is the most widespread language in the world and is more widely spoken and written than any other language.
• Over 400 million people use the English vocabulary as a mother tongue, only surpassed in numbers, but not in distribution by speakers of the many varieties of Chinese.
• Over 700 million people, speak English, as a foreign language.
• Did you know that of all the world’s languages (over 2,700) English is arguably the richest in vocabulary; and that the Oxford English Dictionary lists about 500,000 words, and there are a half-million technical and scientific terms still uncatalogued?
• Three-quarters of the world’s mail, telexes and cables are in English.
• Did you know that more than half of the world’s technical and scientific periodicals are in English?
• English is the medium for 80% of the information stored in the world’s computers?
• Did you know that English is the language of navigation, aviation and of Christianity? It is the ecumenical language of the World Council of Churches.
• Five of the largest broadcasting companies in the world (CBS, NBC, ABC, BBC and CBC) transmit in English, reaching millions of people all over the world.