….it seems quite probable that English has more words than most comparable world languages. English has a much larger vocabulary than either the Germanic languages or the … Romance language family to which French belongs. source
Meaningful word count comparisons are difficult between languages are difficult. This is especially the case when there are different writing systems. In Chinese, for example, a word is logographic (combining images) while its German equivalent is alphabetic (combining letters).
What we can say is that European languages dominate most international spheres of activity: medicine, business, communications etc. And of the European languages, English has the largest lexicon or number of words.
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The short and the very long
Accordingly, the 23 volumes of The Oxford English Dictionary takes up more shelf space than their French, Italian, Spanish and Russian rivals combined. They house an astonishing 615,000 words or thereabouts.
Students of the English language should not despair, however. There is a Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. That is only two volumes, though you need strong arms to lift them.
Why English?
Clearly the rise of British and then US influence in global affairs gave English a key advantage as a lingua franca. Robert McCrum points out that the structure of the language is also well suited to this role:
English accommodates foreign words… it has become an international language {absorbing} vocabulary from a large number of other sources. English has the largest lexicon (number of words) of any European language.
English FAQ - Teaching Toolbox
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