Angloromani Dictionary Home

What is Angloromani?

English Romanes - also called 'Angloromani' by researchers - is the language or speech form of the English and Welsh Romani Gypsies. Earlier generations of British Gypsies spoke a dialect of Romani that was closely related to the Romani dialects of continental Europe. Knowledge and use of Romani declined among Gypsies in Britain during the nineteenth century, and today what remains of the language is mainly a vocabulary of words of Romani origin. English Gypsies often use these Romani words within their English conversation, when conversing with one another.

About this Dictionary

This resource is based on a survey of English Romanes conducted in different parts of England and Wales during 2004-2006. Words obtained as part of the survey are indicated by the label 'Corpus' (i.e. deriving from our corpus of recordings). The accompanying usage examples are cited from the speakers. We also include words that have been extracted from published sources, along with the relevant reference.

There is much variation within English Romanes. We often include different from of words and different pronunciations, but it is difficult to provide an exhaustive description of all variants. Speakers are invited to inform us of additional words and examples of how to use them by writing to romani@manchester.ac.uk.