Simple English Wikipedia
Basic/Learning English edition of Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Simple English Wikipedia is a modified English language edition of Wikipedia written primarily in Basic English and Learning English.[2] It is one of ten Wikipedias written in an Anglic language or English-based pidgin or creole. The site has the stated aim of providing an encyclopedia "for everyone, such as children and adults who are learning English".[3][non-primary source needed]
 Logo of the Simple English Wikipedia | |
Screenshot  The homepage of the Simple English Wikipedia | |
Website type | Online encyclopedia |
|---|---|
| Available in | |
| Owner | Wikimedia Foundation |
| Website | simple |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional |
| Users | 1,857,350 users, 22 administrators as of 30 September 2026 |
| Launched | 18 September 2001[1] |
Content license | Creative Commons Attribution/ Share-Alike 4.0 (most text also dual-licensed under GFDL) Media licensing varies |
Simple English Wikipedia's basic presentation style makes it helpful for beginners learning English.[4] Its simpler word structure and syntax, while missing some nuances, can make information easier to understand when compared with the regular English Wikipedia.
History
The Simple English Wikipedia was launched on 18 September 2001.[1][non-primary source needed]
In 2012, Andrew Lih, a Wikipedian and author, told NBC News' Helen A.S. Popkin that the Simple English Wikipedia does not "have a high standing in the Wikipedia community", and that it had never had a clear purpose. Popkin felt it was unclear whether the site was aimed at younger users, or intended to present simpler versions of complex articles.[5]
Material from the Simple English Wikipedia formed the basis for One Encyclopedia per Child,[6] a project in One Laptop per Child[7] that ended in 2014.[8]
In 2018, a proposal was raised on the Wikimedia Foundation's Meta-Wiki that the Simple English Wikipedia be closed on the grounds that there was no proof that the target audience was reading it. The proposal was rejected on the basis that there was no policy justification for closing the wiki and there was no consensus to do so.[9][non-primary source needed]
As of September 2026, the site contains over 285,000 content pages. It has more than 1,857,000 registered users, of whom 3,301 have made an edit in the past month.[10][non-primary source needed]
Website structure
The articles on the Simple English Wikipedia are usually shorter than their English Wikipedia counterparts, typically presenting only basic information. Tim Dowling of The Guardian newspaper explained that "the Simple English version tends to stick to commonly accepted facts".[11] The interface is also more simply labeled; for instance, the "Random article" link on the English Wikipedia is replaced with a "Show any page" link; users are invited to "change" rather than "edit" pages; clicking on a red link shows a "page not created" message rather than the usual "page does not exist".[12] The project encourages, but does not enforce, the use of a vocabulary of around 1,500 commonly used English words[2] that is based on Basic English, an 850-word controlled natural language created by Charles Kay Ogden in the 1920s.[11]
