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This is the front page of the Simple English Wikipedia. Wikipedias are places where people work together to write encyclopedias in different languages. We use Simple English words and grammar here. The Simple English Wikipedia is for everyone, such as children and adults who are learning English. There are 286,707 articles on the Simple English Wikipedia. All of the pages are free to use. They have all been published under both the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 4.0 International License and the GNU Free Documentation License. You can help here! You may change these pages and make new pages. Read the help pages and other good pages to learn how to write pages here. If you need help, you may ask questions at Simple talk.

When writing articles here:

  • Use Basic English words and shorter sentences. This allows people to understand complex terms or phrases.
  • Write good pages. The best encyclopedia pages have useful, well-written information.
  • Use the pages to learn and teach. These pages can help people learn English. You can also use them to make a new Wikipedia to help other people.
  • Simple does not mean short. Writing in Simple English means that simple words are used. It does not mean readers want basic information. Articles do not have to be short to be simple; expand articles, add details, but use basic vocabulary.
  • Be bold! Your article does not have to be perfect because other editors will fix it and make it better. And most importantly, do not be afraid to start and make articles better yourself.

Selected Very Good Article

The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is a member of the dove family (Columbidae). It has five subspecies. The number of mourning doves is about 475 million. They live in North America. Mourning doves are light grey and brown, and males and females look similar.

These birds usually have one partner at a time. Both parents sit on the eggs and care for their chicks. Adult mourning doves usually eat only seeds. The parents feed crop milk to the young.

People hunt mourning doves for sport and for meat. Up to 70 million birds are shot in the United States every year. Its name, "mourning," comes from its sad-sounding call. The bird is a strong flier, and can fly at up to 88 km/h (55 mph).

Selected Good Article

A satellite image of Hurricane Ismael in 1995
A satellite image of Hurricane Ismael in 1995

Hurricane Ismael was a weak hurricane that formed during the 1995 Pacific hurricane season. The storm formed on September 12, 1995. It became a hurricane on September 14, while it was located off the coast of Mexico. It moved to the north, and made landfall in Sinaloa. Ismael quickly weakened over land, and died out on September 16 over northwestern Mexico.

Did you know...

From a collection of Wikipedia's articles:

A picture of Romaine lettuce

  • ... that lettuce (pictured) was one of the first plants brought to America by Christopher Columbus?
  • ... that before entering politics, President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian was a heart surgeon?
  • ... that within one day of Donald Trump's attempted assassination in Pennsylvania, his campaign raised over $2 million for his supporters who were hurt or killed in the shooting?
  • ... that Ecuadorian news anchor Alfonso Espinosa de los Monteros holds the Guinness World Record for "longest career as a television news broadcaster" for his 56-year-career?
  • ... that Potsdam was meant to be "a picturesque, pastoral dream" which would remind its people of their relationship with nature and reason?
  • ... that in 1983, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson became the first African American since the Reconstruction era to address the Alabama Legislature?

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