<P> The colloquial usage of "England" as a synonym for "Britain" is still widespread outside the UK . In Germany, the term "England" is often used to mean Great Britain or even the entire United Kingdom . In many other languages, such as Chinese, Japanese or Korean, the word for "English" is synonymous with "British"--see the article on Alternative words for British for more detail . </P> <P> The term "Europe" may be used in one of several different contexts by British and Irish people: either to refer to the whole of the European continent, to refer to only to Mainland Europe, sometimes called "continental Europe" or simply "the Continent" by some people in the archipelago . Europe may also be used in reference to the European Union (or, historically, to the European Economic Community). A comedic treatment of the different uses of this word appears in an episode of the BBC sitcom To the Manor Born . When tradesmen are taking measurements in metric, and Audrey fforbes - Hamilton objects on the grounds that the house was built "in feet and inches", a tradesman says "We're in Europe now", referring to the European Economic Community . Audrey fforbes - Hamilton retorts "Well you may be, but I'm staying here!" - implying that to her, the word "Europe" referred only to mainland Europe, excluding Britain and Ireland . </P> <P> The word "Great" means "larger", in comparison with Brittany in modern - day France . One historical term for the peninsula in France that largely corresponds to the modern French province is Lesser or Little Britain . That region was settled by many British immigrants during the period of Anglo - Saxon migration into Britain, and named "Little Britain" by them . The French term "Bretagne" now refers to the French "Little Britain", not to the British "Great Britain", which in French is called Grande - Bretagne . In classical times, the Graeco - Roman geographer Ptolemy in his Almagest also called the larger island megale Brettania (great Britain). At that time, it was in contrast to the smaller island of Ireland, which he called mikra Brettania (little Britain). In his later work Geography, Ptolemy refers to Great Britain as Albion and to Ireland as Iwernia . These "new" names were likely to have been the native names for the islands at the time . The earlier names, in contrast, were likely to have been coined before direct contact with local peoples was made . </P> <P> The word Ireland has two meanings . </P>

How do you say great britain in french