English words first recorded in the 10th century

1. The puzzle is inherited from Middle English redels, inherited from Old English rǣdels (“opinion, counsel, conjecture, riddle”), formed with the noun suffix -els from rǣdan (“to advise, interpret…

It is inherited from Middle English rough, ruhe, inherited from Old English rūh (“not smooth, coarse; hairy, shaggy”), from Proto-West Germanic *rūχ(w)az, the source also of Dutch ruig and German…

It is inherited from Middle English rung, also rong, inherited from Old English hrung (“rod, staff, crossbar, pole”), from Proto-Germanic *hrungō. It is cognate with West Frisian ronge (“support in…

1. The bag is inherited from Middle English sak, inherited from Old English sacc (“large cloth bag”), borrowed from Latin saccus (“bag, sackcloth”), taken early into Germanic as Proto-Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle English sad, inherited from Old English sæd (“sated, full, weary of”), from Proto-Germanic *sathaz, the source also of Old Saxon sad, Dutch zat, Old High German sat…

It is inherited from Middle English salt, inherited from Old English sealt, salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltan, also the source of Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old Frisian and Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐍄 (salt), Dutch zout…

It is inherited from Middle English sandie, from Old English sandiġ (“of the nature of sand”), from sand and -y.

1. The tool is inherited from Middle English sawe, inherited from Old English sagu (also saga), from Proto-Germanic *sagō (“a cutting tool”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”), the root also…

It is inherited from Old English scolere, a student (about 1000), borrowed from Medieval Latin scholāris (“a pupil”), noun use of Late Latin scholāris, of a school, from Latin schola, school (see…

It is inherited from Middle English seme, inherited from Old English sēam (“seam of a garment, suture”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *saumaz. Its cognates are Old Frisian sām (“hem, seam”), Middle…

The verb is inherited from Middle English setlen, inherited from Old English setlan (“to place in a fixed position, to seat”), from setl (“a seat”), which also gave the noun settle, a bench. Old…

It is inherited from Middle English shafte, inherited from Old English sceaft (“rod of a spear, staff, shaft”), from Proto-Germanic *skaftaz, cognate with Old Saxon skaft, Old High German scaft…

It is inherited from Middle English shanke, also shonke and schanke, inherited from Old English sceanca, earlier scanca, a weak masculine noun meaning shin or leg. It goes back to Proto-Germanic…

The verb is inherited from Middle English shapen, a new present-tense form built on inherited from Old English scapen, past participle of sceppan (“to create, form, destine”) or scieppan, from…

1. The portion is inherited from Middle English share, inherited from Old English scearu (“a cutting, shearing, tonsure; a division”), from Proto-Germanic *skeraz, from the base of sceran (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English shiften, inherited from Old English sċiftan (“to arrange, divide, apportion”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftaną, also the source of Old Norse skipta “to divide…

It is inherited from Middle English shine, inherited from Old English scinu, a strong feminine noun, from Proto-Germanic *skinō. It is cognate with West Frisian skine, North Frisian skenn, Middle…

It is inherited from Middle English shirte, shurte, inherited from Old English scyrte, from Proto-Germanic *skurtjon (“a short garment”), the source also of Old Norse skyrta “shirt”, Middle Dutch…

The noun is inherited from Middle English shrede, also shrade and schreade, inherited from Old English scrēade (“a piece cut off, a paring”), also scrēad, inherited from Proto-Germanic *skraudō (“a…

It is inherited from Middle English shutten, also shetten and shitten, inherited from Old English scyttan (“to put a bolt in place to fasten a door”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuttjan, from the…

1. It is inherited from Middle English schey, inherited from Old English sċēoh (“timid, easily startled”), from Proto-Germanic *skeukhwaz, afraid, source also of Dutch schuw and German scheu…

It is inherited from Middle English sikel, inherited from Old English sicol, also sicel, which most dictionaries take as an early West Germanic borrowing, ultimately from Vulgar Latin *sicila, a…

1. The hammer is inherited from Middle English slegge, also sleg, inherited from Old English slecg (“hammer, mallet”), from Proto-Germanic *slagjǭ, formed from the stem of the verb that gave slay…

It is inherited from Middle English slime, also slyme and slim, inherited from Old English slīm (“slime, mud, mire”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *slīmą, the source also of Old Norse slím, Old…

1. The taste is inherited from Middle English smak, also smac and smacke, inherited from Old English smæc (“taste; scent, odour”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *smakkuz (“a taste”). It is cognate…

It is inherited from Middle English smoke, inherited from Old English smoca (“smoke”) (rare), related to smēocan (“to give off smoke”), from Proto-Germanic *smuk-, the source also of Dutch smook…

It is inherited from Old English snaca, from Proto-Germanic *snakô, cognate with Middle Low German snake and Old Norse snákr, related to snail and to Old High German snahhan (“to creep”), from PIE…

It is inherited from Middle English soken, inherited from Old English socian (“to soak, to lie in liquid”), formed from the weak grade of the stem of sūcan (“to suck”), the source of suck. Hoad and…

It is inherited from Middle English sope, inherited from Old English sāpe (“soap, salve”), from Proto-West Germanic *saipō, source also of Dutch zeep and German Seife, perhaps from PIE…

It is inherited from Middle English softe, inherited from Old English sōfte (“gentle, mild-natured; comfortable, calm; luxurious”), earlier sēfte, the unmutated vowel coming from the adverb sōfte…

It is inherited from Middle English sum thing, inherited from Old English sum þing (“a certain but unknown thing”), from Old English sum + þing (see some and thing).

It is inherited from Middle English sour, inherited from Old English sūr (“sharp, acid, fermented”), from Proto-Germanic *sūraz, cognate with Middle Dutch suur, Old High German sūr (modern sauer)…

The grain is inherited from Middle English spelt, also spelte, inherited from Old English spelt, probably borrowed from Late Latin spelta, a word first recorded in the 5th century as a foreign term…

1. The word for a stalk, shoot and later a steeple is inherited from Middle English spire, also spir, inherited from Old English spīr (“a stalk, shoot, blade of grass”), from Proto-Germanic *spīrō…

It is inherited from Middle English spurnen, also spornen, inherited from Old English spurnan, also spornan, a strong verb less frequent in Old English than its compound ætspurnan. It comes from…

It is inherited from Middle English steir, also steyer, inherited from Old English stǣger (“stair, flight of steps”), from Proto-Germanic *staigriz, Barnhart's and the OED's *staigrī, a derivative…

It is inherited from Middle English sterven (“to die, perish”), inherited from Old English steorfan (“to die”) (past tense stearf, past participle storfen), inherited from Proto-Germanic *sterbaną…

It is inherited from Middle English stedefast, inherited from Old English stedefæst (“secure in position, standing firm”), a compound of stede (“place, position”), the source of stead, and fæst…

It is inherited from Middle English stem, inherited from Old English stēam (“vapour, fume, odour”), from Proto-Germanic *staumaz, also the source of Dutch stoom, West Frisian and Low German stoom…

1. The adjective is inherited from Middle English sterne, inherited from Old English styrne (“severe, harsh, strict”), from Proto-Germanic *sternijaz, related to starian (“to stare”) (see stare)…

1. The piece of wood is inherited from Middle English stikke, inherited from Old English sticca (“twig, rod, peg, spoon”), from Proto-West Germanic *stikkō, from the Germanic base *stik- (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English stif, inherited from Old English stīf (“rigid, not easily bent”), from Proto-Germanic *stīfaz (“inflexible”), cognate with Middle Low German stīf, Dutch stijf and…

It is inherited from Middle English stoni, also stany and stoony, inherited from Old English stānig, from stān (“stone”) and the suffix -ig, the source of -y. The adjective goes back to…

1. The shore is inherited from Middle English strond, also strand, inherited from Old English strand (“sea-shore”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *strandō (“edge; shore, beach”); Etymonline and…

1. It is Middle English strike, streke, inherited from Old English strica (“line of motion, stroke of a pen, mark”), related to strīcan, to pass over lightly (see strike), from Proto-Germanic…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English strouten, also struten, inherited from Old English strūtian (“to stand out stiffly”), from Proto-Germanic *strūtōną. Barnhart gives the Germanic root as…

It is inherited from Middle English tannen, from late Old English tannian, implied in getanned, from Medieval Latin tannō, to tan, dye a tawny colour (about 900), from tannum, crushed oak bark used…

It is inherited from Middle English tape, tappe, inherited from Old English tæppa, tæppe (“narrow strip of cloth”), a word of uncertain origin. It is probably related to Old Frisian tapia and Middle…

1. The adjective meaning sour is inherited from Middle English tart, also tarte and terte, inherited from Old English teart (“sharp, rough, severe”). Etymonline calls this descent probable, since…

It is inherited from Middle English tesen, also tesien, inherited from Old English tǣsan (“to pluck, pull apart, tear; to comb wool”), from Proto-West Germanic *taisjan, which Etymonline gives as…

It is inherited from Middle English thauen, also thawen and thowen, inherited from Old English þāwian (“to thaw (transitive)”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *þawjaną. Hoad reconstructs the West…

It is inherited from Old English þuruh (about 1000), a stressed two-syllable variant of þurh, through (see through), paralleled in Old Saxon thuru(h) and Old High German duruh.

It is inherited from Middle English thretenen, inherited from Old English þrēatnian (“to urge, force, threaten”), formed from þrēat (“coercion, threat”) (see threat) and a verb suffix. The earlier…

It is inherited from Middle English throwen, earlier thrauwen, inherited from Old English þrāwan (“to twist, turn, writhe, curl”), from Proto-Germanic *threw-, the source also of Old Saxon thrāian…

It is inherited from Middle English thuresday, also thursday, inherited from Old English þūresdæg, a contracted form of þunresdæg (“Thor's day”), influenced by Old Norse þórsdagr. The Old English…

It is inherited from Middle English tigre, partly inherited from Old English tigras (plural) and partly borrowed from Old French tigre, both from Latin tigris, from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris)…

1. It is inherited from Middle English tyren, inherited from Old English tēorian (“to fail, cease, become weary”), Kentish tiorian, of unknown origin; Watkins suggests Proto-Germanic *teuzon, from…

It is inherited from Middle English tode, earlier tadde and tade, inherited from Old English tādige, also tādie, a word of unknown origin. Old English also had the shortened forms tāde and tāda, the…

1. It is inherited from Old English toll (“impost, tribute, passage money”), a variant of toln, cognate with Old Norse tollr and German Zoll, usually considered an early Germanic borrowing of Late…

It is inherited from Middle English to night, inherited from Old English tō niht (“at night; on the night following”), from Old English tō (“at, on”) + niht (“night”), the dative of niht. It is…