English words first recorded in the 10th century

It is inherited from Middle English witnesse, inherited from Old English witnes (“knowledge; testimony; a witness”), formed from wit and -ness. Compare Old High German giwiznessi and Old Norse vitni.

1. The pronoun is inherited from Old English ġē, the nominative plural of þū (see thou), altered by the influence of wē (“we”) from an earlier form like Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐍃 (jus, “you (plural)”). It is…

It is inherited from Middle English yisterday, inherited from Old English ġeostran dæġ, a compound of ġeostran (“yesterday”) and dæġ “day”, the source of yester- and day. Old English ġeostran is…

1. The colour is inherited from Middle English dun, also donn and dunne, inherited from Old English dunn (“dingy brown, dark-coloured”). Its further origin is uncertain. The OED compares Old Saxon…

It is inherited from Middle English holi, a reduced form of earlier holin, inherited from Old English holegn (“holly”) (also holen), from Proto-Germanic *hulin-, cognate with Old Saxon hulis, Old…

It is inherited from Middle English wipen, inherited from Old English wīpian (“to wipe, cleanse”), from Proto-Germanic *wipjan, to move back and forth, source also of Danish vippe and Old High…

It is inherited from Middle English framen, inherited from Old English framian (“to profit, be helpful, avail”), from fram “active, bold”, originally “going forward”, from fram “forward”, which also…

1. It is inherited from Middle English mulne, mylne, mille, inherited from Old English mylen, an early borrowing borrowed from Late Latin molīna, molīnum (“mill”), the feminine and neuter of molīnus…

All its senses go back to Latin prīmus (“first; chief, excellent”), from Proto-Italic *prīsmos, a superlative of Proto-Indo-European *preis- (“before”), related to Old Latin prī “before” and to…

It is inherited from Middle English redere, inherited from Old English rǣdere (“one who counsels; one who reads aloud; scholar; interpreter”), an agent noun formed from Old English rǣdan + -ere (see…

It is inherited from Middle English cros, inherited from Old English cros, replacing earlier Old English rōd (rood), probably borrowed from Old Norse kross, from Old Irish cros, from Latin crux…

It is inherited from Middle English barli, also barly, inherited from Old English bærlīc, which was originally an adjective meaning "of barley". Its first element is bær-, a form of bere (“barley”)…

1. The bird is Middle English doke, duk, inherited from Old English dūce (“duck”), literally “a diver”, from an unrecorded Old English verb *dūcan, to duck or dive, from Proto-Germanic *dūkaną…

It is inherited from Middle English stubbe, inherited from Old English stybb, also stubb and stebb, a stump of a tree. The form stubb goes back to Proto-Germanic *stubbaz, while stybb is from a form…

It is inherited from Middle English croft, inherited from Old English croft (“small enclosed field”), whose further origin is unknown. The OED compares Dutch kroft and krocht (“prominent rocky…

1. The female deer is inherited from Middle English hinde, inherited from Old English hind, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hindō, for which Etymonline and Hoad give *hinþjō. It is cognate with Old…

It is inherited from Middle English clam (“pincers, vice, clamp”), inherited from Old English clamm (“bond, fetter, grip, grasp”), also clomm. The shellfish name is apparently a particular use of…

It is inherited from Middle English drof, inherited from Old English drāf (“the act of driving; a herd driven”), from drīfan (“to drive”) (see drive), from a gradation variant of the same base.

It is inherited from Middle English elles, inherited from Old English elles (“otherwise, besides, different”), the neuter genitive singular of a Germanic adjective meaning “other”, used as an…

It is inherited from Middle English fresen, inherited from Old English frēosan (“to turn to ice”), a strong verb (past tense frēas, past participle froren), from Proto-Germanic *freusan, source also…

It is inherited from Middle English gult, gilt, inherited from Old English gylt (“crime, sin, fault, fine”), of unknown origin. A connection with Old English gieldan (“to pay”) has been suggested…

It is inherited from Middle English hire self, inherited from Old English hire self, the dative of hēo self (“she herself”), from her and self. It was originally dative, but since the 14th century…

1. It is inherited from Middle English hippe, inherited from Old English hype, from Proto-Germanic *hupiz, the source also of Dutch heup, German Hüfte and Gothic hups. Barnhart and MWU relate it to…

The verb is inherited from Middle English hopen, inherited from Old English hopian (“to trust, look forward, hope”), a word of unknown origin. It belonged first to the Low German area: its cognates…

It is inherited from Middle English hot, inherited from Old English hāt (“hot, fervent, fierce”), from Proto-Germanic *haitaz. Its cognates include Old Saxon hēt, Dutch heet, German heiß and Old…

It is inherited from Middle English laddere, inherited from Old English hlǣder (“ladder, steps”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaidri, source also of Dutch leer and German Leiter, from a suffixed form of…

It is inherited from Middle English lane, inherited from Old English lane, lanu “narrow hedged-in road”, a common Germanic word of unknown origin, related to Old Frisian lana, Middle Dutch lāne…

It is inherited from Middle English lilie, inherited from Old English lilie, borrowed from Latin līlium (“lily”), or its plural līlia, from the same non-Indo-European source as Ancient Greek λείριον…

It is inherited from Middle English maiden, inherited from Old English mæġden (“girl, virgin, maidservant”), a diminutive of mæġþ (“virgin, girl, woman”), from the diminutive Proto-Germanic…

1. The equal is inherited from Middle English macche, inherited from Old English mæcca, gemæcca (“companion, mate, spouse; an equal”), from Proto-Germanic *gamakjô, “fitting well together”, related…

It is inherited from Middle English nowher, inherited from Old English nāhwǣr (“nowhere, not at all”), later nōhwǣr, formed from nā (“no”) and hwǣr (“where”). See no and where.

It is inherited from Middle English wher ever, ware euere, from where and ever.

1. The animal is inherited from Middle English bule, from Old English bula (972, in place names), perhaps reinforced by Old Norse boli (“bull”), from Proto-Germanic *bullô, which also gave Dutch bul…

1. The plant word is inherited from Middle English schrubbe, also schrobbe and shrobbe, inherited from Old English sċrybb (“brushwood, shrubbery, underwood”), a rare word that the OED finds only…

It is inherited from Middle English aker, inherited from Old English æcer (“tilled field, open land”), from Proto-Germanic *akraz (“field, pasture”), cognate with Old Saxon akkar, Old Frisian ekker…

It is inherited from Middle English amidde, inherited from Old English on middan (“in the middle”), from on and middan, the dative singular of midde (“middle”) (see mid), from Proto-Indo-European…

It is partly inherited from Old English cleric (“clergyman”) (about 975) and partly Old French clerc (“clergyman, scholar”), both from Late Latin clēricus (“a priest”) (see cleric), from Greek…

It is inherited from Middle English dippen, inherited from Old English dyppan (“to plunge into water, baptize by immersion”), from Proto-Germanic *dupjanan, related to Old English dīepan, to immerse…

It is inherited from Middle English mose, inherited from Old English mos (“bog”), related to mēos (“moss”), from Proto-Germanic *musą, cognate with Old High German mos (“moss, bog”) (modern Moos)…

It is inherited from Middle English londes mark, inherited from Old English landmearc (“boundary of an estate or country”), from land and mearc (“mark, boundary”) (see land and mark).

It is inherited from Middle English again, ayen, inherited from Old English ongēan (“toward, opposite, against; back”), later agēn, formed from Old English on (“on”) + -gegn (“against, toward”)…

It is inherited from Middle English abiden, inherited from Old English ābīdan (“to remain, wait”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *uzbīdaną. The Old English verb is formed from the prefix ā- and…

It is inherited from Middle English almest, inherited from Old English ealmǣst (“nearly all, for the most part”), a compound, from Old English eall (“all”) + mǣst (“most”), literally “mostly all”…

It is inherited from Middle English amasen, inherited from Old English āmasian (“to stun, stupefy, confound”), formed with the prefix ā- and an assumed verb *masian (“to confuse”). The American…

It is inherited from Old English anclēow (before 800), replaced in Middle English by forms from Old Norse (Old Icelandic ǫkkla, from *ankulan), cognate with Old High German anchal, enkil, Dutch…

The verb is a merger of two Middle English verbs: awaken, from Old English āwæcnan (“to awake, arise, originate”) (earlier onwæcnan), and awakien, from Old English āwacian (“to awaken, revive…

It is inherited from Middle English awhile, inherited from Old English āne hwīle (“(for) a while”), the accusative of ān (“one”) and hwīl (“while”) (see one and while), reduced to a while and…

It is inherited from Old English bæcere (“baker”), an agent noun from bacan (“to bake”) (see bake) and -er. It is cognate with Dutch bakker and German Bäcker.

It is inherited from Middle English bannen, inherited from Old English bannan (“to summon, command, proclaim”), from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to speak publicly”), used of various proclamations…

It is inherited from Old English bær (“naked, uncovered”), from Proto-Germanic *bazaz, source also of German bar, Old Norse berr and Dutch baar, from PIE Proto-Indo-European *bhoso- (“naked”), also…

It is inherited from Middle English barfot, inherited from Old English bærfōt, a compound of bær (“bare”) and fōt (“foot”), the ancestors of bare and foot. Other Germanic languages have the same…

It is inherited from Middle English ber, inherited from Old English bēor (“strong drink, beer, mead”), a West Germanic word, cognate with Old Frisian biar, Middle Dutch and Dutch bier, Old High…

It is inherited from Middle English bete, inherited from Old English bēte, borrowed from Latin bēta (“beet”). The Latin name was taken early into the West Germanic languages, which is why Old…

It is inherited from Middle English beginnen, inherited from Old English beginnan (“to attempt, undertake”), a rare word beside the usual onginnan, from be- and Proto-West Germanic *ginnan, which is…

It is inherited from Middle English bileven, later beleven, inherited from Old English belȳfan or belēfan (“to have faith in, believe”), which replaced older gelēfan (Mercian) and gelȳfan (West…

It is inherited from Middle English belwes, the plural of belu, also belw, a northern form beside beli. It probably continues inherited from Old English belga, plural of belg or belig (“bag”), so…

It is inherited from Middle English belt, inherited from Old English belt, from Proto-Germanic *baltjaz, the source also of Old High German balz and Old Norse belti, an early Germanic borrowing of…

1. It is inherited from Middle English benden, inherited from Old English bendan (“to bend a bow, bring into a curve; confine with a string”), a causative of bindan, to bind, from Proto-Germanic…

It is inherited from Old English berie (“berry, grape”) (about 1000, in Ælfric), from *bazją, cognate with Old High German beri (German Beere), Dutch bes, Old Norse ber and Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌱𐌰𐍃𐌹…

It is inherited from Middle English binder, inherited from Old English bindere (“one who binds”), an agent noun formed from Old English bindan (“to bind”) + -ere. In modern terms it is bind with the…