English words first recorded in the 12th century

The verb is Middle English consenten, borrowed from Old French consentir (“to agree, comply”), a learned borrowing of Latin cōnsentiō (“to agree, accord”), literally “to feel together”, from con-…

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos, “order, ornament; world, universe”), a word of uncertain origin; Etymonline takes it through the Latinized form cosmos, and Merriam-Webster traces…

The noun is inherited from Middle English cost, borrowed from Old French cost (“cost, outlay; hardship”) (also coust, modern coût), from the verb coster (“to cost”), which comes from Latin cōnstō…

It is inherited from Middle English curt, borrowed from Anglo-Norman curt, from Old French cort (“king's court, princely residence”), from Latin cōrtem, the accusative of cōrs, a contracted form of…

It is formed from English craft + man, with the first element in the genitive, as Middle English craftes man (“man of skill”), from craftes, the genitive singular of the noun. It replaced the…

It is borrowed from Old French cruel, earlier crudel, from Latin crūdēlis (“rude, unfeeling, hard-hearted”), related to crūdus, rough, raw, bloody (see crude, raw). The loss of the Latin medial d…

It is inherited from Middle English crien, borrowed from Old French crier, from Vulgar Latin *critare, from Latin quirītō (“to cry out, wail, shriek”), of uncertain origin, which also gave Italian…

It is inherited from Middle English custume, borrowed from Old French costume, custume, from Vulgar Latin *consuetumen, from Latin cōnsuētūdō (“habit, usage”), from cōnsuētus, the past participle of…

It is inherited from Middle English degre, borrowed from Old French degré (“step of a stair, degree of relationship, academic degree, rank”), earlier degret, said to be from Vulgar Latin *dēgradus…

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek δέλτα (délta), the name of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, which is of Semitic origin: compare Phoenician and Hebrew dāleth, from deleth, door, originally…

It is Middle English, borrowed from Latin daemon (“spirit”), in Late Latin daemōn, dēmōn, an evil spirit, from Greek δαίμων (daímōn, “deity, divine power, lesser god, guiding spirit”), probably…

1. The barren region is inherited from Middle English desert, borrowed from Old French desert (“wilderness, wasteland”) and directly from Late Latin dēsertum (“a thing abandoned”), used in the…

The verb is inherited from Middle English desiren, borrowed from Old French desirer (“to wish, desire, long for”), desirrer, 12th century, from Latin dēsīderō (“to long for, wish for; to miss; to…

It is inherited from Middle English destruen, later destroien, borrowed from Old French destruire (“to destroy, ravage, lay waste”), from Vulgar Latin *dēstrūgō, a refashioning influenced by the…

1. It is inherited from Middle English diete, borrowed from Old French diete (“diet, pittance, fare”) (13th century), from Medieval Latin dieta, from Latin diaeta “prescribed way of life”, from…

It is inherited from Middle English diggen, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to dike and ditch, either through Anglo-Norman diguer, from Old French digue, dike, or from an unrecorded Old English…

It is Middle English, borrowed from Old French descepline (“discipline, physical punishment; teaching”) and directly disciplīna (“instruction, teaching, knowledge”), from discipulus (“pupil…

The noun is inherited from Middle English dishonour, also deshonour, borrowed from Old French deshonor (modern déshonneur), formed from des- and honor (“honour”). The Anglo-Norman deshonur is…

It is inherited from Middle English duble (“twice, twofold”), borrowed from Old French doble (“double, twofold; two-faced, deceitful”), duble, from Latin duplus (“twofold, twice as much”), from duo…

It is inherited from Middle English duten, douten, borrowed from Old French douter (“to doubt, be doubtful, be afraid”), doter, from Latin dubitō (“I doubt, hesitate, waver in opinion”), related to…

It is inherited from Middle English douve, also duve and dove, probably inherited from Old English *dūfe, a form found only as the first part of the compound dūfedoppa, which Barnhart glosses as a…

It is a spelling of draught, reflecting the change in its pronunciation, found from about 1500 and in the 16th century. Draught is inherited from Middle English draht, draght, probably inherited…

It is inherited from Middle English dul, apparently related to Old English dol (“dull-witted, foolish”), though Etymonline also allows an unrecorded parallel word or a borrowing of Middle Low German…

It is inherited from Middle English aisie (later esi), borrowed from Old French aisié (“comfortable, at ease; well-off”), the past participle of aisier (“to put at ease”), from aise (“ease”), the…

It is inherited from Middle English elleswher, inherited from Old English elles hwǣr, a compound of the ancestors of else and where.

It is the name of the letter M, written as a word, from the Latin name of the letter; the Greek name was mu. The printing unit is named from the letter M, since its width is about that of an em.

It is inherited from Middle English empereur, emperour, borrowed from Old French empereor, the oblique case of emperere, from Latin imperātor (“commander, emperor”) (accusative imperātōrem), from…

It is inherited from Middle English estat, borrowed from Anglo-Norman astat and Old French estat “state, position, condition, legal estate”, from Latin status (“state, condition, position”), from…

It is Middle English eve, a variant of even “evening”, which is inherited from Old English ǣfen; the final n was lost, perhaps because it was taken for an inflection, as in game, maid and clew. The…

It is inherited from Middle English every, everich, inherited from Old English ǣfre ǣlc (“each of a group, literally ever each”), a phrase formed from Old English ǣfre (“ever”) + ǣlc (“each”)…

It is inherited from Middle English everichon, a compound, from English every + one.

It is inherited from Middle English eauerihwer, a contraction of Old English ǣfre ġehwǣr, built from ever and where; the -i- was apparently a prefix, as in handiwork. Etymonline says it is not from…

It is inherited from Middle English failen, borrowed from Old French faillir (“to be lacking, miss, not succeed; to run out; to err; to let down”), falir, from Vulgar Latin *falliō, an alteration of…

It is inherited from Middle English farewel, from the phrase faren wel, with fare, the imperative of faren (“to go, get along”), and wel (“well”) (see fare and well).

It is inherited from Middle English feste, borrowed from Anglo-Norman fest, borrowed from Old French feste (now fête), from Latin fēsta (“festival, feast day, holiday, banquet”), the neuter plural…

It is inherited from Middle English felaweshipe, formed from felawe and -shipe (see fellow and -ship).

1. It is inherited from Middle English fige, borrowed from Old French figue (“fig”), fige, from Old Occitan figa, from Vulgar Latin *fica, from Latin fīcus (“fig tree, fig”). The Latin word, like…

It is inherited from Middle English figure, borrowed from Old French figure (“shape, body; figure of speech”), from Latin figūra (“shape, form, figure”), from fig-, the stem of fingō (“to shape…

It is inherited from Middle English flasken, flashen, probably imitative, like splash and dash. Some extended senses may be from Scandinavian cognates. The link with fire may have come from its…

It is inherited from Middle English flateren, earlier flatren, usually taken as borrowed from Old French flater (“to stroke, caress; to flatter”), modern flatter, which is probably of Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle English flur, flour, borrowed from Anglo-Norman flur, Old French flor, flour, from Latin flōs (“flower”), genitive flōris, from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- (“to thrive…

1. The silly person is Middle English fol, borrowed from Old French fol (“madman, idiot, jester”) (modern French fou “mad”), from Late Latin follis, from Latin follis (“bellows, leather bag”), which…

It is inherited from Middle English furme (later forme), borrowed from Old French forme (“shape, appearance; manner”) and directly borrowed from Latin fōrma (“form, mould, shape; beauty”), a word of…

It is inherited from Middle English feuel or fewel, borrowed from Old French fouaille (“fuel for heating; bundle of firewood”) (Anglo-Norman fuaille), from Medieval Latin focālia (“the right to…

It is Middle English, from further and more.

The noun is inherited from Middle English gayne, borrowed from Middle French gain, from Old French gaaigne “gain, profit; booty; arable land”, from gaaignier (“to earn, gain; to cultivate land”)…

It is inherited from Middle English gere, probably borrowed from Old Norse gørvi (“apparel, gear”), related to gerr “ready” and gøra “to make”, from Proto-Germanic *garwjan (“to make, prepare…

It is inherited from Middle English general, borrowed from Old French general and also directly from Latin generālis (“relating to all, of a whole class”), from genus (“stock, kind”) (stem gener-)…

It is a compound of gentle, in its sense noble, and man, translating or modelled on Old French gentilz hom (modern French gentilhomme).

It is inherited from Middle English geometrie, borrowed from Old French geometrie, from Latin geōmetria, from Ancient Greek γεωμετρία (geōmetría, “measurement of earth or land; geometry”), from γῆ…

It is inherited from Middle English gloire, glorie, borrowed from Old French glorie (“glory of God; renown; splendour”) (modern French gloire), a learned borrowing of Latin glōria (“fame, renown…

It is inherited from Middle English grace, borrowed from Old French grace (“pardon, divine grace, mercy; favour, thanks; elegance”) (12th century, modern grâce), from Latin grātia (“favour, esteem…

It is inherited from Middle English graunten, granten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman graunter, Old French graanter, a variant of creanter (“to assure, promise, guarantee; to confirm, authorize”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English gref, borrowed from Anglo-Norman gref, Old French grief, wrong, misfortune, from grever, to afflict, burden (see grieve), from Latin gravāre (“to make heavy; to…

It is borrowed from Old French grifon (“a bird of prey; the fabulous bird”), from Late Latin gryphus, a misspelling of grȳps (“griffin”), from Ancient Greek γρύψ (grúps, “griffin”), literally curved…

It is Middle English habit, abit, borrowed from Old French abit, habit (“clothing; conduct”), from Latin habitus (“condition, demeanour, appearance, dress”), originally the past participle of habēre…

1. It is inherited from Middle English hacken, from Old English -haccian in inherited from Old English tōhaccian (“to hack to pieces”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakkōn, source also of Old Frisian…

It is inherited from Middle English hardi, borrowed from Old French hardi (“bold, brave; presumptuous”), the past participle of hardir (“to harden, become bold”), from Frankish *hardjan (“to make…

It is inherited from Middle English eritage, heritage, borrowed from Old French eritage (“inheritance, ancestral estate”) (modern French héritage), from heriter (“to inherit”) and the suffix -age…

It is a natural exclamation, Middle English hei, possibly imitative, compared with Old French hai, Dutch and German hei and Swedish hej. Etymonline compares Latin eia and Greek εἶα (eîa). Latin hei…