Great Britain

Great Britain

English

Etymology

Of the island of Great Britain, to disambiguate Britain from Ireland or from Brittany, i.e. Lesser Britain (Μικρά Βρεττανία (Mikrá Brettanía)).

From Middle English Great Brittaigne, Grete Britaigne, Grete breteygne, grete Bretayne, grete breteyne, parallelling Anglo-Norman la Grande Brettayne and 12th-century Latin maior Britannia. Ultimately from Ancient Greek: Μεγάλη Βρεττανία (Megálē Brettanía). Equivalent to Great +‎ Britain.

King James VI and I in 1604 proclaimed himself "King of Great Britain, France and Ireland".

Pronunciation

• Audio (UK)

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Proper noun

Great Britain

1. The island (and sometimes including some of the surrounding smaller islands) off the north-west coast of Europe made up of England, Scotland, and Wales. Abbreviation: GB.
2. England, Scotland and Wales in combination.
3. (historical or loosely) The United Kingdom. (This was the official name of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707 to 1801.)
4. A national sports team representing the United Kingdom in an international competition.
   • 2012, “'Apologise' for Die Stem”, in Sport24‎, South Africa:

     The manager of the London Cup hockey tournament must apologise for playing apartheid anthem "Die Stem" before South Africa's clash with Great Britain, SA Hockey Association chief executive Marissa Langeni said on Wednesday.

   • 2012, Chris Chance, “Great Britain apologizes to South Africa for playing apartheid anthem before field hockey game”, in Yahoo! Sports‎:

     Great Britain apologizes to South Africa for playing apartheid anthem before field hockey game

5. The British Olympic Association.
   • 2012, “'Apologise' for Die Stem”, in Sport24‎, South Africa:

     The manager of the London Cup hockey tournament must apologise for playing apartheid anthem "Die Stem" before South Africa's clash with Great Britain, SA Hockey Association chief executive Marissa Langeni said on Wednesday.

   • 2012, Chris Chance, “Great Britain apologizes to South Africa for playing apartheid anthem before field hockey game”, in Yahoo! Sports‎:

     Great Britain apologizes to South Africa for playing apartheid anthem before field hockey game

Synonyms

• Gramarye (literary, Arthurian, rare)

Derived terms

• Kingdom of Great Britain
• GB
• Great Britainer
• Team GB

Translations

island

Afrikaans: Groot-Brittanje (af) Albanian: Britania e Madhe (sq) Amharic: የታላቋ ብሪታኒያ (yätalaḳʷa bəritaniya) Arabic: بِرِيطَانِيَا الْعُظْمَى‎ f (birīṭāniyā l-ʿuẓmā) Armenian: Մեծ Բրիտանիա (Mec Britania) Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܪܝܼܛܵܢܝܼܵܐ ܟܲܒܝܼܪܵܐ‎ (brīṭaniya kābīra) Asturian: Gran Bretaña (ast) f Azerbaijani: Böyük Britaniya (az) Bashkir: Бөйөк Брита́ния (Böyök Britániya) Basque: Britainia Handia Belarusian: Вялікабрыта́нія f (Vjalikabrytánija) Bengali: বিলাত (bn) (bilat), গ্রেট ব্রিটেন (greṭ briṭen) Breton: Breizh-Veur (br) Bulgarian: Великобрита́ния f (Velikobritánija) Burmese: ဘိလပ် (my) (bhi.lap), ဂရိတ်ဗြိတိန် (ga.ritbri.tin) Catalan: Gran Bretanya (ca) f Chechen: Йоккха Британи (Joqqa Britani) Chinese: Cantonese: 大不列顛, 大不列颠 (daai6 pat1 lit6 din1) Hakka: 大不列顛, 大不列颠 (Thai Put-lie̍t-tiên) Mandarin: 大不列顛／大不列颠 (zh) (Dàbùlièdiān) Czech: Velká Británie (cs) f Danish: Storbritannien (da) Dutch: Groot-Brittannië (nl) n Esperanto: Britio, Granda Britio Estonian: Suurbritannia (et) Faroese: Stórabretland n Finnish: Iso-Britannia (fi) French: Grande-Bretagne (fr) f Galician: Gran Bretaña (gl) f Georgian: დიდი ბრიტანეთი (ka) (didi briṭaneti) German: Großbritannien (de) n Greek: Μεγάλη Βρετανία (el) (Megáli Vretanía) Ancient: Βρεττανία f (Brettanía) Gujarati: ગ્રેટ બ્રિટન (greṭ briṭan) Haitian Creole: Grann Bretay f Hebrew: בְּרִיטַנְיָה‎ (he) f (británya) Hindi: ग्रेट ब्रिटेन m (greṭ briṭen), विलायत (hi) m (vilāyat), ग्रेटब्रिटेन (hi) m (greṭabriṭen) Hungarian: Nagy-Britannia (hu) Icelandic: Stóra-Bretland (is) n Indonesian: Britania Raya (id) Irish: An Bhreatain Mhór f Italian: Gran Bretagna (it) f Japanese: グレートブリテン (Gureito Buriten) Kazakh: Ұлыбритания (Ūlybritaniä) Khmer: មហាប៊្រីតថេន (mɔhaa priittheen) Korean: 그레이트브리튼 (Geureiteubeuriteun), 대브리텐 (Daebeuriten) (North Korea) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: Brîtanyaya Mezin (ku) Kyrgyz: Улуу Британия (Uluu Britaniya) Lao: ເກາະໄບຮເທັນໃຫຍ (kǫ bai ha then nyai) Latin: Britannia (la) f Latvian: Lielbritānija f Lithuanian: Didžioji Britanija (lt) f Macedonian: Вели́ка Британија f (Velíka Britanija) Malay: Great Britain Malayalam: ഗ്രേറ്റ് ബ്രിട്ടൺ (grēṟṟŭ briṭṭaṇ) Maltese: il-Gran Brittanja f Maori: Piritini Nui Marathi: ग्रेट ब्रिटन m (greṭ briṭan), (literally) महान ब्रिटन m (mahān briṭan) Mongolian: Cyrillic: Их Британи (Ix Britani) Neapolitan: Gran Vretagna f Nepali: ग्रेट ब्रिटेन (greṭ briṭena) Norman: Grande Brétangne f Northern Sami: Stuorra-Británnia Norwegian: Bokmål: Storbritannia (no) Nynorsk: Storbritannia (nn) Occitan: Grand Bretanha (oc) f, Gran Bretanha f Oriya: ଯୁକ୍ତରାଜ୍ୟ (or) (juktôrajyô) Ossetian: Стыр Британи (Styr Britani) Pashto: بريتانيا‎ f (britāniyã), لويه برتانيه‎ f (loya bartānyá), برتانيه‎‎ f (bartānyá) Persian: بریتانیا‎ (fa) (beritâniyâ), بریتانیای کبیر‎ (beritâniyâ-ye kabir) Polish: Wielka Brytania (pl) f Portuguese: Grã-Bretanha (pt) f Punjabi: ਗਰੇਟ ਬ੍ਰਿਟੇਨ (gareṭ briṭen) Romanian: Marea Britanie (ro) f Romansch: Gronda Britannia f Russian: Великобрита́ния (ru) f (Velikobritánija), Брита́ния (ru) f (Británija) Samoan: Peretānia Tele Scots: Great Breetain Scottish Gaelic: Breatainn Mhòr f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: Велика Британија f Roman: Velika Britanija f Silesian: Wjelgo Brytańijo f Sinhalese: මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය (mahā britānyaya) Slovak: Veľká Británia f Slovene: Vélika Británija (sl) f, Británija f Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: Wjelika Britaniska f Upper Sorbian: Wulkobritaniska f Spanish: Gran Bretaña (es) f Swedish: Storbritannien (sv) Tagalog: Gran Britanya Tajik: Британияи Кабир (Britaniyayi Kabir) Tamil: பெரிய பிரித்தானிய (periya pirittāṉiya) Tatar: Бөекбрита́ния (Böekbritániya) Telugu: గ్రేట్ బ్రిటన్ (te) (grēṭ briṭan) Thai: บริเตนใหญ่ (brì-dteen-yài), เกรตบริเตน (gréet-brì-dteen) Turkish: Büyük Britanya (tr) Turkmen: Beýik Britaniýa Ukrainian: Великобрита́нія (uk) f (Velykobrytánija), Вели́ка Брита́нія (uk) f (Velýka Brytánija) Urdu: برطانیہ‎ m (bartāniyā), برطانیہ عظمیٰ‎ m (bartāniyā-e-'uzmā), عظیم برطانیہ‎ (azīm bartāniyā), برطانیہ عظمی‎ (britānya-e azīmī) Uyghur: بۈيۈك برىتانىيە‎ (büyük britaniye) Uzbek: Buyuk Britaniya Vietnamese: Đại Anh (大英), nước Anh, đảo Anh (vi) (島英) Welsh: Prydain Fawr (cy) West Frisian: Grut-Brittanje Yiddish: גרויסבריטאַניע‎ (groysbritanye)

England, Scotland and Wales in combination

Finnish: Iso-Britannia (fi)

United Kingdom — See also translations at United Kingdom,‎ Kingdom of Great Britain

Afrikaans: Groot-Brittanje (af) Albanian: Mbretëria e Bashkuar Arabic: بْرِطَانِيَا‎ (briṭāniyā) Aromanian: Britania Mari Azerbaijani: Böyük Britaniya (az) Chuvash: Аслӑ Британи (Aslă Brit̬ani) Crimean Tatar: Büyük Britaniya Czech: Velká Británie (cs) f Danish: Storbritannien (da) Estonian: Suurbritannia (et) Faroese: Stórabretland n Finnish: Iso-Britannia (fi), Englanti (fi) Georgian: დიდი ბრიტანეთი (ka) (didi briṭaneti) German: Großbritannien (de) n Hindi: ग्रेट ब्रिटेन m (greṭ briṭen), ग्रेटब्रिटेन (hi) m (greṭabriṭen) Indonesian: Britania Raya (id) Japanese: グレートブリテン (Gurēto Buriten) ブリテン (Buriten), イギリス (ja) (Igirisu), 英国 (ja) (えいこく, Eikoku) Latvian: Lielbritānija f Lithuanian: Didžioji Britanija (lt) Macedonian: Велика Британија f (Velika Britanija) Norwegian: Bokmål: Storbritannia (no) Nynorsk: Storbritannia (nn) Portuguese: Grã-Bretanha (pt) f Romanian: Marea Britanie (ro) f Russian: Великобрита́ния (ru) f (Velikobritánija) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: Велика Британија f Roman: Velika Britanija f Silesian: Wjelgo Brytańijo f Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: Wjelika Britaniska f Upper Sorbian: Wulkobritaniska f Swedish: Storbritannien (sv), England (sv) (colloquial), Förenade kungariket (sv) (formal) Tagalog: Gran Britanya

national sports team

Finnish: Iso-Britannia (fi), Englanti (fi)

See also

• United Kingdom

Further reading

• Great Britain at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “Great Britain”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary