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• Basic English
  Basic English

  noun

  a simplified form of English restricted to an 850-word vocabulary and a few rules of grammar, intended especially as an international auxiliary language and for use in teaching English as a foreign language: devised by Charles Kay Ogden.
• basic English
  basic English

  noun

  a simplified form of English, proposed by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards, containing a vocabulary of approximately 850 of the commonest English words, intended as an international language

Basic English

American  

noun

1. a simplified form of English restricted to an 850-word vocabulary and a few rules of grammar, intended especially as an international auxiliary language and for use in teaching English as a foreign language: devised by Charles Kay Ogden.

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basic English British  

noun

1. a simplified form of English, proposed by C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards, containing a vocabulary of approximately 850 of the commonest English words, intended as an international language

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Etymology

Origin of Basic English

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Translation into Basic English sometimes results in a stilted foreignness.

From Time Magazine Archive

In his spare time Littlewood prepared a primer based on the study of Russian, Latin, Greek, French, Welsh, Arabic and Basic English.

From Time Magazine Archive

With a staff of assistants, he started a Basic English radio program for Latin America, produced a batch of Basic texts for Spaniards and Portuguese, helped Walt Disney make Basic educational shorts for the Army.

From Time Magazine Archive

If this story is not interesting writing, it is because it is in Basic English.

From Time Magazine Archive

You say the letter accompanying the first deposit, the one in Basic English, was apparently taken away by Kettle-Belly Sam Bonney.

From Lone Star Planet by Piper, H. Beam