The use of the English language in current and former countries of the Commonwealth was largely inherited from British colonisation, with some exceptions. English forms part of the Commonwealth's common culture and serves as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations.
Commonwealth English refers to English as practised in the Commonwealth; the term is most often interchangeable with British English, but is also used to distinguish between British English and that in the rest of the Commonwealth. English in the Commonwealth is diverse, and many regions have developed their own local varieties of the language. The official status of English varies; in Bangladesh, it lacks any but is widely used, and likewise in Cyprus, it is not official but is used as the lingua franca.