Learn an Old English word every day in an app with a unique medieval style.
Add Old English word-of-the-day widgets to your Home Screen, Lock Screen, StandBy mode and on macOS.
Search thousands of words in the archive using Modern or Old English.
Hear audio pronunciations or read them in simplified and IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) styles.
View medieval manuscript illustrations (with human-written Alt Text) and follow links back to the online archives that store them.
Save your favourite Old English words.
Share Old English words with your friends as customizable images.
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.
View the date written in Old English in the app and in widgets.
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, VoiceOver and Voice Control.
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).
All words hoarded by Old English scholar and author of The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English, Hana Videen.
Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Only app I’ve ever deemed worthy of an honest review
F-Stop7
After using iOS for nearly 15 years, this is the first review I’ve ever stopped and took the time to review. Its design is simple and seamless, while beautiful ornate. It was obviously developed by someone with a real passion for the subject. I only had a passing interest in Old English before finding this, but now I look forward to the daily digression into history and etymology that it inspires.
Love this app
Sarum Muse
Fantastic app. The production and quality is outstanding. This is the app equivalent of that little, extraordinarily beautiful book you like to take out and just look at.If I can make one suggestion, I’d love more etymological info on the relation to modern English words but especially the word’s origins and roots going back to earlier Germanic languages and PIE etc., even just an easy link to Wiktionary or something would be great.
So excited for this app
INFJill
What an awesome app. I’ve been following old English Wordhord on Instagram for a while. This app is very clean, and well organized. I was shocked to discover it was free, as I fully expected to pay for it.It includes beautiful illuminated manuscript artwork, pronunciations, and a feature to save your favorites. A future feature I would love to see would be a search function.
Developer Response
Thanks for your kind words! Search is high on my list of features to add in the future but I want to implement it in a way that suits the content. Users wouldn’t be able to search for every Old English word as the Wordhord is not a complete dictionary but I still think search would be useful to find for words previously seen or words relating to terms not already listed in Categories.If you have any other feature requests please ask @OEWordhordApp on Twitter
This is an excellent app
ESL12754
I have enjoyed this app for about 18 months now and it is one of the few apps on my phone that I use on a daily basis. My educational background as both a student and a retired teacher has largely focused on English and the historical development of the language. This app has been a complete delight to use.
Version 2.0 Features:
- Share any Wordhord word as a customizable image with ALT text. (iOS 16+)
- Old English date widgets. Show the time of day (morgen, middæg, niht…), weekday (monandæg, tiwesdæg, wodnesdæg…) day, month, and year with medieval manuscript marginalia. (iOS 17+)
- Dark Mode and tinted icons (iOS 18+)
- Old English dates in the Wordhord (Enabled in settings).
- Old English dates spoken (long press on date).
- Full word classes instead of abbreviations (eg. "weak verb" instead of "wk.v.". Enabled in settings.).
- Tooltips for word class abbreviations. (long press on word class or description)
- Open word on the oldenglishwordhord.com blog or copy the blog link. (long press the word or share bow and arrow).
- New buttons to rate and share the app.
Updates:
- Widgets have better support of the Tinted Home Screen mode.
- Search field wider on iPads.
- Links to Twitter removed.
- Links to Old English Wordhord on BlueSky added.
- Medieval marginalia “banner ad” showing ways to support the Wordhord can now be disabled in settings.
Bugfixes:
- Old English searches with "ae" will now match “æ”.
- Old English searches will ignore hyphens and spaces to improve matching.
Version 2.0.0
The developer, Ryan Lintott, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
The developer indicated that this app supports the following accessibility features. Learn More
Supported Features
VoiceOver
Voice Control
Larger Text
Dark Interface
Reduced Motion
Information
Seller
Ryan Lintott
Size
51.6 MB
Category
Entertainment
Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later.
iPod touch Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
Infrequent Cartoon or Fantasy Violence Profanity or Crude Humor Mature or Suggestive Themes Alcohol, Tobacco, Drug Use or References Sexual Content or Nudity