Anglophone

An Anglophone is someone who speaks the English language natively or by adoption. As an adjective, it means English-speaking, whether referring to individuals, groups or places. As such, it is related to the Anglosphere, the group of countries that mainly speak English.

Word Origin

The origin prefix "Anglo-" came from the Angles, a Germanic tribe that inhabited Great Britain in the 6th century AD, and suffix "-phone" from the Greek word "phōnē" which means "sound" or "voice".

Cultural

In a narrower sense, the notion of "Anglophone" reaches beyond the mere dictionary definition of "English-language speaker". The term specifically refers to people whose cultural background is primarily associated with English language, regardless of ethnic and geographical differences. The Anglophone culture beyond the "mother country" is the legacy of the British colonial empire.

Geographic

Countries in which English is the first language of a large fraction of the population are shown in dark blue. Other countries or regions with substantial adoption of English are shown in light blue.

The term can also refer to nations which have English as an official language or where a majority of the population speak it, such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Collectively, such nations can be known as the Anglosphere. The term "Anglophonie", derived from "Anglophone" is used rarely [3][4]usually in contradistinction to Francophonie, but is more common in other languages

Canada

In Canada, and especially in Quebec and New Brunswick, the term "Anglophone" or the abbreviation "anglo" is widely used to designate someone whose native language is English. This contrasts with Francophone (someone whose native language is French) and allophone (someone with any other mother tongue). The latter term is rarely used outside Quebec in this meaning. See English-speaking Quebecer.