Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century, when the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press.
Middle English retains only two distinct noun-ending patterns from the more complex system of inflection in Old English: strong nouns end in -s, weak nouns end in -n.