Word.ws English Dictionary

British Isles

/ˌbɹɪ.tɪʃ ˈaɪlz/

British Isles proper noun: an archipelago of Northern Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, Anglesey, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, the Hebrides, the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, the Isles of Scilly, the Channel Islands and many smaller islands.

Proper noun

the British Isles

  1. An archipelago of Northern Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, Anglesey, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, the Hebrides, the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, the Isles of Scilly, the Channel Islands and many smaller islands.

British Isles meaning in Hindi, Arabic, Malay and Indonesian

British Isles in Hindi

group of islands
ब्रिटिश द्वीप briṭiś dvīp

British Isles in Arabic

group of islands
اَلْجُزُر اَلْبِرِيطَانِيَّة al-juzur al-biriṭāniyya

British Isles in Malay

group of islands
Kepulauan British

British Isles in Indonesian

group of islands
Kepulauan Britania
More languagesFewer languages
British Isles in Persian
جزایر بریتانیا jazâyer-e beritâniyâ
British Isles in Thai
บริติชไอลส์ brì-dtìch-ai-ls
British Isles in Vietnamese
quần đảo Anh

Synonyms of British Isles

Origin of British Isles

From British (“relating to Britons, Britain, or the Britains”) + isles (“islands”). Compare Ancient Greek Βρεττανίδες νῆσοι (Brettanídes nêsoi) and Latin Britannicae insulae (“British islands”).

Questions about British Isles

What does British Isles mean?
British Isles means an archipelago of Northern Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, Anglesey, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, the Hebrides, the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, the Isles of Scilly, the Channel Islands and many smaller islands.
What is British Isles in Hindi?
British Isles in Hindi is ब्रिटिश द्वीप (briṭiś dvīp). See British Isles meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is British Isles?
British Isles is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce British Isles?
British Isles is pronounced /ˌbɹɪ.tɪʃ ˈaɪlz/ (UK).

Words near British Isles in the dictionary

  1. British Honduras
  2. British India
  3. British Indian Ocean Territory
  4. British Invasion
  5. British Islands
  6. British Isles
  7. British Isles and Ireland
  8. British Israelism
  9. British Jubaland
  10. British Longhair
  11. British Longhairs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: British Isles (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-British Isles.wav.

Cite this entry: “British Isles.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/british_isles. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.