Old English Wordhord

word-hord, n.n: a word-hoard, a store of words.
The Wordhord is not a dictionary — it’s a museum exhibition in your pocket that you can digest in bite-size chunks.

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 unrecognisable (such as neorxnawang, or paradise) and some that are curious even in translation (gafol-fisc literally means tax-fish).

Learn a new word every day with a Home Screen widget.

Browse thousands of daily words in the archive going back to 2013.

Listen to pronunciations: Each word has written pronunciations in simplified or IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) styles. Tap the pronunciation to hear it spoken.

Dive into manuscript images. Words are often accompanied by images from medieval manuscripts that can be viewed fullscreen.

Word categories, including: 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.

Save your favourite words and they’ll stay in sync across all your devices.

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. Human-written alt text is available on images that accompany every new word.

The hoarder of words, Hana Videen, has posted an Old English word every day since 2013. She is a published author and has an Old English doctorate from King’s College London.