24 Old English Words You Should Start Using Again 1. A dish fit for the gods A diamond in the rough.

Jump to phrases. Billingsgate. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. A different kettle of fish. Old English is the language of the Anglo-Saxons (up to about 1150), a highly inflected language with a largely Germanic vocabulary, very different from modern English.

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Convert from Modern English to Old English. Who doesn’t like heading bedward after a hard day? 2,000 English Phrases and Sayings - each one explained. Brabble.

A countenance more in sorrow than in anger. Tread is also from the AU with a similar root and has kept the meaning of step on or walk.

A diamond is forever. A change is as good as a rest. Bedward.

Also a single modern word may map to many Old English words. Bill says: Thresh (to beat grain) comes from the Old English and has the same root as thrash (to flail about). A bunch of fives. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Exactly as it sounds, bedward means heading for bed. This one is a sneaky word; it sounds so very proper and yet it refers to abusive language and curse... 3.

As this is a really old language you may not find all modern words in there.

A collection of useful phrases in Old English, the version of English that was spoken in England from about the 5th to the 11th century.

A Daniel come to judgement. See these phrases in any combination of two languages in the Phrase Finder. 2.