germanic
adj.adj. relating to the group of languages that includes English, German, and Dutch, or to the people who originally spoke them.
adj. relating to the branch of the Indo-European language family that includes English, German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages, or to the ancient tribes of northern Europe.
English is a Germanic language.
Scholars study ancient Germanic tribes to understand the early history of northern and central Europe.
The shift from synthetic to more analytic structures is a notable feature in the historical development of several Germanic languages over the last millennium.
Learned borrowing from Latin germānicus, equivalent to German + -ic.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Typically used attributively before a noun; when referring to the language family or historical tribes, it is always capitalised.
Last updated May 7, 2026