Word.ws English Dictionary

Globish

UK/ˈɡləʊbɪʃ/US/ˈɡloʊbɪʃ/

Globish proper noun: a simplified version of the English language, not created but consisting of the most common English words and phrases, enabling non-English-speakers to communicate.

Proper noun

Globish

  1. A simplified version of the English language, not created but consisting of the most common English words and phrases, enabling non-English-speakers to communicate.
    • The typical conversation in Globish could be grating to a native speaker, but get the job done between, say, a Kenyan and a Korean trying to navigate a business deal or asking for help at the airport check-in.2006 August 6, Noam Cohen, “Language not pronounced trippingly on native tongue”, in New York Times
    • Nobody is likely to grow up speaking Globish as a mother tongue.2008, Mark Abley, The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English, page 98
    Synonyms:
    International English

Examples of Globish in a sentence

  • Across a dozen different time zones, financial journalists in each of these cities filed reports for their national desks, but the language of the crisis was unvaryingly Globish.2011, Robert McCrum, Globish: How English Became the World's Language, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 280:
  • Perhaps most importantly, Globish cannot draw on the history and idioms of any one culture.2012, Gerard Kelly, Church Actually: Rediscovering the Brilliance of God's Plan, page 144:
  • But the rise of Globish may be prevented by the Babel chip.2018, Gaston Dorren, Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages:

Synonyms of Globish

  • International English

Origin of Globish

Blend of global + English, late 20th c.

Questions about Globish

What does Globish mean?
Globish means a simplified version of the English language, not created but consisting of the most common English words and phrases, enabling non-English-speakers to communicate.
How do you use Globish in a sentence?
Across a dozen different time zones, financial journalists in each of these cities filed reports for their national desks, but the language of the crisis was unvaryingly Globish.
What part of speech is Globish?
Globish is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Globish?
Globish is pronounced /ˈɡloʊbɪʃ/ (US).

Words near Globish in the dictionary

  1. globigerinid
  2. globigerinids
  3. globin
  4. globing
  5. globins
  6. Globish
  7. globital
  8. globocop
  9. globocops
  10. globocracy
  11. globocrat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Globish (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.

Last updated:

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