Brush Up on the Regency Language of Jane Austen Novels

Bookish people have been celebrating Jane Austen all year long with new books about the author and themed events around the world, including dances, tours, festivals, and museum exhibits. Austen’s fans appreciate her all the time, but this year is especially notable because December 16, 2025, would have been the author’s 250th birthday. All of Austen’s work — from her teenage writings to her last unfinished stories — is represented in the honoring of her legacy. And part of why it  continues to resonate with contemporary audiences is the distinctive language. Not only was Austen an accomplished observer of the frivolities of the upper class, but she also was uniquely capable of distilling those observations into prose. 

If you’re looking to take this opportunity to dive into the Regency world of Jane Austen, whether for a reread or the first time, there are a number of words and customs to keep in mind. These are set dressing for the plot, and it’s important to understand the context in which misunderstandings and debates arise. The manners and customs of the time necessitated certain decorum and behavior, so deviation was grounds for harsh judgment. That’s where Austen found both comedy and tension. Learning some Regency-era vocabulary words will help you grasp the importance of the setting for the world of her novels. 

Jane Austen lived from 1775 to 1817, and the majority of her novels are set in the years of her adult life. This aligned with the Regency period in England, when Prince Regent George IV ruled while King George III was mentally unstable. The Georgian era (which preceded the Regency period) was much more buttoned-up, and though there were still many strict customs during the Regency, it was characterized by an increased emphasis on individuality and personal exploration that allowed people to push against conservative societal mores. 

All of Austen’s novels take place in England, but her family lived in Bath, and she set the majority of her stories there. It’s a small city in Somerset, England, full of old Roman baths, and now it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Currently, Bath is the location of the Jane Austen Centre, so this is the spot for the best tours with Jane Austen experts.  

This isn’t Regency-era vocabulary, but it’s English Literature 101. Austen’s novels use a specific type of omniscient narrator that gives more context to the characters. Free indirect discourse is a writing technique that merges the character’s thoughts with the author’s commentary. For example, in Chapter 7 of Sense and Sensibility, Austen’s narration merges with the description of Colonel Brandon and Marianne Dashwood: “His pleasure in music, though it amounted not to that ecstatic delight which alone could sympathize with her own, was estimable when contrasted against the horrible insensibility of the others; and she was reasonable enough to allow that a man of five and thirty might well have outlived all acuteness of feeling and every exquisite power of enjoyment.” 

This writing style allowed Austen to thread opinions about her characters and the people surrounding them through her writing, while also letting them explain their own thoughts. 

Some of the most consequential characters in Austen’s novels were the landed gentry. The gentry were recognizably wealthy landowners (like Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice) who were also entitled to bear a coat of arms. The gentry were not of the peerage, meaning they didn’t hold the rank of lord or duke, but they were still important to the social hierarchy. 

In the context of Austen, the wealthy received a yearly income from their land ownership, known as an endowment. For example, Mr. Darcy’s income was 10,000 pounds a year, a vast sum, which was why he caused such a stir with his arrival at Pemberley. 

In Austen’s time, women were unable to be the primary beneficiaries of the income for their family. They were expected to marry and become their husband’s responsibility, but a husband could be attracted by a large amount of money offered through a potential bride’s dowry. In Emma, for example, Emma Woodhouse was to receive a dowry of 30,000 pounds from her father, but she was reluctant to marry. Daughters could also receive a small yearly allowance from their estates. 

Men and women who were courting each other in Austen’s novels had few activities they could do together, due to rigid rules about propriety and social etiquette. One suitable activity was to go on a promenade, which was essentially taking a walk. The place they would promenade would likely be a long pathway in a park or a road in a field. 

One of the Regency phrases that Jane Austen used that has fallen out of fashion is “take a turn.” It’s another way to describe a walk, but more specifically a very short walk. Characters might ask one other to take a turn about the ballroom at a party. 

In the Regency period, gentlemen and ladies carried around cards with their names, which they used to invite guests over for social calls. Leaving calling cards and receiving guests for tea was part of the standard gentry social calendar. 

When well-bred young ladies were ready to search for husbands in Regency England, they debuted in society. This meant the girls were allowed to attend parties, as well as socialize with men (with a chaperone). At the beginning of Pride and Prejudice, all five Bennet sisters had debuted into society, yet none was married, worsening Mrs. Bennet’s nerves.  

Since Austen’s novels often dealt with the passing of estates (both of land and money), men of the law were usually needed. A barrister was a higher-level lawyer, considered a gentleman. Lower-level lawyers, such as solicitors and attorneys, were considered working class, but all levels of lawyers worked with the gentry on managing their estates. In Persuasion, Anne’s father, Sir Walter Elliot, employs a lawyer, likely at the solicitor level, to deal with the family finances. 

Since women couldn’t inherit property from their family, the entail of an estate specified which male family member the estate would pass to. If a family (like the Bennets) had no male children, it would pass to a different male family member, such as the Bennets’ cousin, Mr. Collins. In Sense and Sensibility, much of the drama between the characters comes from which sons will receive their inheritances and how much they will get. Advantageous marriages were a constant topic of discussion in Austen’s work, largely because of inheritance law and entailment in Regency England. 

Both men and women in Austen’s novels may wear a fashionable pelisse, which was a long cloak with fur trimming. There are a number of excellent pelisses donned by Emma Woodhouse in the 2020 film adaptation Emma.

Women in Austen novels often took walks around their villages (or in Elizabeth Bennet’s case, through open fields). They needed to carry pin money and any other necessary items, and a small drawstring bag called a reticule was the accessory of choice.

In the Regency period, it was unseemly to go out in public without wearing some sort of head covering. A hat called a bonnet was worn by most ladies. It was made of either cloth or straw and had ribbons tied under the chin. 

At a ball or village dance, attendees would be familiar with specific dance choreography. The quadrille was a square dance for four couples and was often performed to music (also called a quadrille) in 6/8 or 2/4 time signatures. 

This was another type of dance and the music associated with it. The minuet was specifically a dance for couples, so a couple that was courting might prefer this slow dance in 3/4 time to a quadrille.