Learn an Old English word every day with customizable widgets.
Listen to Old English pronunciations and see them written out in simplified or IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) styles.
Search using Modern English or Old English through thousands of daily words in the archive going back to 2013.
View medieval manuscript illustrations (or listen to descriptive human-written Alt Text via VoiceOver) and follow links back to the online archives that store them.
Save your favourite Old English words and they’ll sync across all your devices.
Browse categories: animals, arts + crafts, battle, body + health, colours, education + knowledge, emotions, food + drink, kennings, language + writing, magic + supernatural, measuring, monsters, people, phrases, religion, runes, sounds + music, things to wear, time + seasons, travel + trade, trees + plants, water, and weather.
The design of the Wordhord is inspired by the lines and colours used in medieval manuscripts. Even dark mode is influenced by a medieval-style “dark mode” where manuscripts were inscribed in gold on pages dyed a deep bluish-black.
Gold shimmer! Many manuscripts would shimmer under the light due to their use of gold leaf. Gold elements in the Wordhord can shimmer in the same way when you move your device. (This feature can be turned on in settings.)
The Wordhord aims to be accessible to all with support for Dynamic Type, Reduced Motion and VoiceOver.
What is Old English?
Old English is the language you think you know until you actually hear or see it. Used throughout much of Britain over a thousand years ago, it is rich with words that haven’t changed (like word), others that are unrecognizable (such as neorxnawang, or paradise) and some that are curious even in translation (gafol-fisc literally means tax-fish).
The hoarder of words, Hana Videen, is the author of The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English. She has a PhD in English from King’s College London and has posted an Old English word every day since 2013.
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