West Germanic
- noun
- Specialized
:
germánico occidental
- Member, West Germanic group of Germanic subfamily of the lndo-European family of Earth languages.
Examples
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English is classified as a West Germanic language, making it part of the same family as German and Dutch.
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The West Germanic branch of languages includes widely spoken tongues like German and Dutch.
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Who could learn English easily because English is a West Germanic language?
Blog text (17) -
They have similar languages, with some small semantic differences. Dutch, which is used in Holland, is a West Germanic language that closely resembles German and English.
Academic text (1994) -
Due to its roots in the West Germanic family, English shares many similarities with both German and Dutch.
Synonyms
A group of languages like English, German and Dutch
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a western branch of the Germanic language family' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'West' (western/located in the west) with 'Germanic' (the language family). This directional + family-naming composition is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will likely understand the compound.
Etymology
West Germanic points to the western side, West, of the Germanic languages. Long ago people in that western area spoke similar tongues, so English, German, and Dutch are in that 'group' today.
