Basic English

Basic English is a constructed language with a small number of words created by Charles Kay Ogden and described in his book Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar (1930). The language is based on a simplified version of English.

Word List

These are the 850 core words of Basic English.

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OPERATIONS - 100 words

come, get, give, go, keep, let, make, put, seem, take,

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be, do, have, say, see, send, may, will

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about, across, after, against, among, at, before, between, by,

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down, from, in, off, on, over, through, to, under, up, with,

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as, for, of, till, than,

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a, the, all, any, every, no, other, some, such, that, this,

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I, he, you, who,

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and, because, but, or, if, though, while, how, when, where, why,

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again, ever, far, forward, here, near, now, out, still, then,

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there, together, well

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almost, enough, even, little, much, not, only, quite, so, very,

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tomorrow, yesterday

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north, south, east, west, please, yes.

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THINGS - 400 General words

account, act, addition, adjustment, advertisement, agreement, air,

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amount, amusement, animal, answer, apparatus, approval, argument, art,

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attack, attempt, attention, attraction, authority,

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back, balance, base, behaviour/behavior, belief, birth, bit, bite, blood, blow,

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body, brass, bread, breath, brother, building, burn, burst, business,

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butter, canvas, care, cause, chalk, chance, change, cloth, coal, colour/color, comfort,

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committee, company, comparison, competition, condition, connection,

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control, cook, copper, copy, cork, cotton, cough, country, cover,

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crack, credit, crime, crush, cry, current, curve,

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damage, danger, daughter, day, death, debt, decision, degree, design,

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desire, destruction, detail, development, digestion, direction,

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discovery, discussion, disease, disgust, distance,

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distribution, division, doubt, drink, driving, dust,

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earth, edge, education, effect, end, error, event, example, exchange,

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existence, expansion, experience, expert,

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fact, fall, family, father, fear, feeling, fiction, field, fight, fire,

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flame, flight, flower, fold, food, force, form, friend, front, fruit,

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glass, gold, government, grain, grass, grip, group, growth, guide,

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harbour/harbor, harmony, hate, hearing, heat, help, history, hole, hope, hour, humour/humor,

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ice, idea, impulse, increase, industry, ink, insect, instrument,

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insurance, interest, invention, iron,

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jelly, join, journey, judge, jump,

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kick, kiss, knowledge,

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land, language, laugh, law, lead, learning, leather, letter, level,

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lift, light, limit, linen, liquid, list, look, loss, love,

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machine, man, manager, mark, market, mass, meal, measure, meat, meeting,

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memory, metal, middle, milk, mind, mine, minute, mist, money, month,

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morning, mother, motion, mountain, move, music,

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name, nation, need, news, night, noise, note, number,

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observation, offer, oil, operation, opinion, order, organization/organisation,

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ornament, owner,

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page, pain, paint, paper, part, paste, payment, peace, person, place,

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plant, play, pleasure, point, poison, polish, porter, position, powder,

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power, price, print, process, produce, profit, property,

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prose, protest, pull, punishment, purpose, push,

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quality, question,

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rain, range, rate, ray, reaction, reading, reason, record, regret, relation, religion,

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representative, request, respect, rest, reward, rhythm, rice, river, road, roll, room, rub, rule, run,

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salt, sand, scale, science, sea, seat, secretary, selection, self, sense, servant, sex,

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shade, shake, shame, shock, side, sign, silk, silver, sister, size, sky, sleep, slip, slope,

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smash, smell, smile, smoke, sneeze, snow, soap, society, son, song, sort, sound, soup,

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space, stage, start, statement, steam, steel, step, stitch, stone, stop, story, stretch,

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structure, substance, sugar, suggestion, summer, support, surprise, swim, system,

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talk, taste, tax, teaching, tendency, test, theory, thing, thought, thunder,

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time, tin, top, touch, trade, transport, trick, trouble, turn, twist, unit, use,

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value, verse, vessel, view, voice, walk, war, wash, waste, water, wave, wax, way, weather, week, weight,

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wind, wine, winter, woman, wood, wool, word, work, wound, writing, year

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THINGS - 200 Picturable words

angle, ant, apple, arch, arm, army, baby, bag, ball, band, basin, basket, bath, bed, bee, bell, berry, bird,

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blade, board, boat, bone, book, boot, bottle, box, boy, brain, brake,

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branch, brick, bridge, brush, bucket, bulb, button,

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cake, camera, card, cart, carriage, cat, chain, cheese, chest, chin,

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church, circle, clock, cloud, coat, collar, comb, cord, cow, cup,

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curtain, cushion, dog, door, drain, drawer, dress, drop, ear, egg, engine, eye, face, farm, feather, finger, fish, flag, floor, fly, foot, fork, fowl, frame,

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garden, girl, glove, goat, gun,

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hair, hammer, hand, hat, head, heart, hook, horn, horse, hospital, house, island, jewel,

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kettle, key, knee, knife, knot, leaf, leg, library, line, lip, lock, map, match, monkey, moon, mouth, muscle,

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nail, neck, needle, nerve, net, nose, nut,

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office, orange, oven, parcel, pen, pencil, picture, pig, pin, pipe, plane, plate, plough/plow,

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pocket, pot, potato, prison, pump, rail, rat, receipt, ring, rod, roof, root,

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sail, school, scissors, screw, seed, sheep, shelf, ship, shirt, shoe,

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skin, skirt, snake, sock, spade, sponge, spoon, spring, square, stamp,

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star, station, stem, stick, stocking, stomach, store, street, sun,

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table, tail, thread, throat, thumb, ticket, toe, tongue, tooth, town, train, tray, tree, trousers,

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umbrella, wall, watch, wheel, whip, whistle, window, wing, wire, worm.

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QUALITIES - 100 General

able, acid, angry, automatic, beautiful, black, boiling, bright, broken, brown,

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cheap, chemical, chief, clean, clear, common, complex, conscious, cut,

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deep, dependent, early, elastic, electric, equal,

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fat, fertile, first, fixed, flat, free, frequent, full,

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general, good, great, grey/gray, hanging, happy, hard, healthy, high, hollow,

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important, kind, like, living, long, male, married, material, medical, military,

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natural, necessary, new, normal, open, parallel, past, physical, political, poor,

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possible, present, private, probable, quick, quiet,

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ready, red, regular, responsible, right, round,

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same, second, separate, serious, sharp, smooth, sticky, stiff, straight,

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strong, sudden, sweet,

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tall, thick, tight, tired, true, violent,

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waiting, warm, wet, wide, wise, yellow, young.

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QUALITIES - 50 Opposites

awake, bad, bent, bitter, blue, certain, cold, complete, cruel,

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dark, dead, dear, delicate, different, dirty, dry,

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false, feeble, female, foolish, future,

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green, ill,

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last, late, left, loose, loud, low,

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mixed, narrow, old, opposite,

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public, rough,

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sad, safe, secret, short, shut, simple, slow, small, soft, solid,

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special, strange,

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thin, white, wrong.

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