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

One of his two Basic helpers in China was killed in a bombing raid; the other, in Kunming, has reported a lively business in the first book of Basic English for Chinese.

From Time Magazine Archive

No pidgin English, Basic can be used to express ideas, as Ogden proves by writing its 100-page system in Basic English.

From Time Magazine Archive

All that Basic English could produce," reported Lockhart, "was 'blood, body water, and eyewash.'

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

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