紀元5世紀にブリテンに侵入したゲルマン系のアングル族が起源で、ドイツ北西部の角張った土地にちなんで名づけられた。
"... when Scots & others are likely to be within earshot, Britain & British should be inserted as tokens, but no more, of what is really meant" [Fowler]In pronunciation, "En-" has become "In-," perhaps through the frequency of -ing- words and the relative rarity of -e- before -ng- in the modern language, but the older spelling has remained. Meaning "English language or literature as a subject at school" is from 1889. Old English meaning the Anglo-Saxon language before the Conquest is attested from c. 1200 in an account of the native (as opposed to Latin) month names.