Estuary English

or estuary English

noun

1. a spoken variety of English influenced by cockney, London speech, and Received Pronunciation, used in London and southeastern England in the area of the Thames estuary.

estuary English

noun

1. a variety of standard British English in which the pronunciation reflects various features characteristic of London and the Southeast of England

Word History and Origins

Origin of Estuary English¹

First recorded in 1980–85

Word History and Origins

Origin of Estuary English¹

C20: from the area around the Thames estuary where it originated

Example Sentences

They identified three voices, estuary English, southern British English and multicultural London English.

From BBC

Around 26% of the participants spoke estuary English, which had similarities with Cockney but was closer to received pronunciation.

From BBC

Estuary English is spoken across the South-East, particularly in parts of Essex, and is similar to how TV personality Stacey Dooley, singers Olly Murs and Adele or The Repair Shop's Jay Blades talk.

From BBC

Spirituality, estuary English, life goals, Brexit, soap, our favourite drinks, Fleet Town football club, the Lib Dems, stealing pub glasses.

From The Guardian

In our culture pages, Hadley Freeman meets the world-conquering creator of Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who’s been practising his estuary English accent for Disney’s reprise of Mary Poppins – and Ryan Gilbey looks at the legacies of two recently deceased filmmakers, Nicolas Roeg and Bernardo Bertolucci, and asks how they compare in modern eyes.

From The Guardian