English words first recorded in the 12th century

It is inherited from Middle English onur, honour, borrowed from Anglo-Norman honour, Old French onor, honor “honour, dignity, distinction, position; victory, triumph” (modern French honneur), from…

It is inherited from Middle English hour (earlier ure, our), borrowed from Anglo-Norman ure and ore (“canonical hour; one-twelfth of a day”) (also hore, modern heure), from Latin hōra (“hour, time…

It is inherited from Middle English hurten, hirten, probably borrowed from Old French hurter (“to ram, strike, collide with”) (modern heurter), a word of uncertain origin, perhaps from Frankish…

It is inherited from Middle English ignoraunce, borrowed from Old French ignorance, from Latin ignōrantia, want of knowledge, from ignōrāns, the present participle of ignōrō, not to know, to…

It is inherited from Middle English image, ymage, borrowed from Old French image (“image, likeness; figure, portrait; reflection; statue”), earlier imagene, from Latin imāgō (“copy, likeness…

It is inherited from Middle English indignacioun, borrowed from Old French indignation or directly borrowed from Latin indignātiō (“indignation, displeasure”); the dictionaries are divided over…

It is a compound of in and sight, probably of Scandinavian and Low German origin, related to Swedish insikt, Danish indsigt, Dutch inzicht and German Einsicht.

It is a compound, from English in + stead, from the Middle English phrase in stede (“in place”) (early dialect i stude), formed from in and stead in the sense “place assigned to one”. Etymonline and…

It is inherited from Middle English gelus, jelus, borrowed from Old French gelos, jelous (“keen, zealous; jealous”), from Medieval Latin zēlōsus, from Christian Latin zēlus (“zeal; jealousy”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English jurnee, jorne, journey, borrowed from Old French jornee (“a day's length; a day's work or travel”) (modern French journée), 12th century, from Vulgar Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English joie, borrowed from Old French joie (“pleasure, delight, bliss”) (11th century), from Latin gaudia, plural of gaudium “joy, gladness”, taken as a feminine…

The verb is inherited from Middle English jugen, juggen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman juger, Old French jugier “to judge, pronounce judgment”, from Latin iūdicō (“to judge, examine officially…

It is inherited from Middle English kide, borrowed from Old Norse kið (“young goat”) or a similar Scandinavian word, from Proto-Germanic *kidjom, the source also of Old High German kizzi and German…

It is inherited from Middle English kirke, probably borrowed from Old Norse kirkja (“church”), itself from Old English ċiriċe (see church).

It is inherited from Middle English lak, lakke, of uncertain origin and not found in Old English. It may continue an unrecorded Old English *lac, or be borrowed from Middle Dutch lak (“deficiency…

It is inherited from Middle English lampe, laumpe, borrowed from Old French lampe (“lamp, lights”), from Late Latin lampada, from Latin lampas, a torch, from Greek λαμπάς (lampás, “torch, lamp…

It is inherited from Middle English left, lift, luft, inherited from Old English left (“weak, worthless”), a Kentish form of lyft-, found in lyftādl (“paralysis, palsy, literally weak disease”). The…

It is inherited from Middle English lasser, lesser, a double comparative, from less and the comparative suffix -er.

It is inherited from Middle English liften, borrowed from Old Norse lypta (“to raise”), from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną, a verb formed from the Germanic noun for “air, sky”, the source of loft, so…

It is borrowed from Old French licour (“fluid, liquid, sap”), a learned borrowing of liquor (“liquid, fluidity”), from liqueō, to be fluid (see liquid). French liqueur, borrowed later, is the same…

It is formed from English live + -ing, as the present participle used as an adjective and as the verbal noun. It replaced Old English lifende (“living, having life”).

1. The adjective is Middle English lahre, later lower, the comparative of low, with the suffix -er. The verb is from the adjective; the older verb for “to cause to descend” was lahghenn, from low…

It is inherited from Middle English maide, a shortened form of maiden, with the loss of -n as in clue, eve and game. Barnhart notes a striking coincidence with German Maid, a poetic word in German.

1. The post is inherited from Middle English male (“travelling bag”), borrowed from Old French male (“wallet, bag, bundle”) (French malle “trunk”), from Frankish *malha or another Germanic source…

It is inherited from Middle English mankende, from man and kind (noun), replacing earlier mankin, inherited from Old English mancynn, by substitution of kind for kin.

It is inherited from Middle English manere, borrowed from Anglo-Norman manere, Old French maniere “way of handling, fashion, method; bearing; custom”, from Vulgar Latin *manuāria, the feminine of…

It is borrowed from Old French marbre (later marble), from Latin marmor, from Greek μάρμαρος (mármaros, “shining stone, block of rock”). The Greek word was associated with marmaírein, to sparkle…

It is inherited from Middle English machun, masoun, borrowed from Old French maçon (“stonemason”), masson (Old Northern French machun), probably from Frankish *makjo or another Germanic source…

It is inherited from Middle English materie (later matere), borrowed from Old French matere (Anglo-French matere) and directly borrowed from Latin māteria (“substance from which something is made…

The noun is inherited from Middle English mesure, borrowed from Old French mesure (“limit, boundary; quantity, dimension; occasion, time”), from Latin mēnsūra (“a measuring, measurement; a thing to…

It is inherited from Middle English menden, a clipping from Middle English amenden (“to amend”), the source of amend, or of its own source, Old French amender (“to correct, set right, improve”)…

It is inherited from Middle English marchaunt, borrowed from Anglo-Norman marchaunt (“merchant, shopkeeper”), Old French marcheant, from Vulgar Latin *mercatantem, a buyer, present participle of…

It is inherited from Middle English merite, borrowed from Old French merite (“wages, reward; moral worth”), and directly Latin meritum (“a service, benefit; worth, value”), neuter of meritus, past…

It is inherited from Middle English messager, borrowed from Old French messagier (“messenger, envoy, ambassador”), also Old Northern French messanger, formed from message (see message), from…

It is inherited from Middle English ministerie, menstre, perhaps from Old French menistere “service; position, post” and directly borrowed from Latin ministerium (“office, service, attendance”)…

1. This word is inherited from Middle English molde, borrowed from Old French modle (“model, plan, copy; way, manner”) with transposed consonants, also found as molle (modern moule), from Latin…

It is borrowed from Old French noble, from Latin nōbilis (“well known, famous; high-born”), earlier gnōbilis, literally “knowable”, related to nōscere (“to come to know”), from PIE…

It is inherited from Middle English noise, borrowed from Old French noise (“din, uproar, brawl; rumour”) (11th century), a word of uncertain origin. According to most sources it is from Latin nausea…

It is inherited from Middle English note, borrowed from Old French note and directly borrowed from Latin nota (“mark, sign; letter, character; written note”), with the verb, Middle English noten…

The noun is contracted, inherited from Middle English nurrice, norice, borrowed from Old French norrice (“foster-mother, wet-nurse”), from Late Latin *nūtrīcia (“nurse, governess”), the feminine of…

It is inherited from Middle English obedience, also obediens and obediaunce, borrowed from Anglo-Norman obedience, also obediance, and Old French obedience (French obédience), from Latin oboedientia…

It is borrowed from Old French olive (“olive, olive tree”) or directly Latin olīva, from Greek *elaíwā, a dialect form of ἐλαία (elaía, “olive tree, olive”), related to élaion, oil (see oil)…

It is inherited from Middle English ordre, borrowed from Old French ordre, earlier ordene, from Latin ōrdō (“row, line, rank; series, arrangement”) (stem ōrdin-), originally “a row of threads in a…

1. The bundle is inherited from Middle English pak, packe, probably a borrowing from Low German or Dutch, as Middle Dutch pac, Middle Low German pak or Middle Flemish pac, taken into English from…

It is inherited from Middle English parlur, also parlour and parlor, borrowed from Anglo-Norman parlur and parleor, modern French parloir, from parler (“to speak, talk”). The verb comes from Vulgar…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English passen, borrowed from Old French passer, from Vulgar Latin *passō (“to step, walk, pass”), from Latin passus (“step, pace”), reconstructed as from…

It is inherited from Middle English paien, borrowed from Old French paiier (“to pay”), from Latin pācō (“to pacify, appease”), in Medieval Latin “to satisfy a creditor, pay”, from pāx (“peace”). The…

It is inherited from Middle English fisicien, borrowed from Old French fisicien (“physician, doctor, sage”), from fisique, the art of healing (see physic), from Latin physica (“natural science”)…

It is inherited from Middle English pece, borrowed from Old French piece (“piece, bit; item; coin”), also pece, from Vulgar Latin *pettia, probably from Gaulish *pettsi: compare Welsh peth (“thing”)…

It is borrowed from Latin pigmentum (“colouring matter, paint, dye; ingredient of an ointment”), formed from pig-, the stem of pingō (“to paint”), and the suffix -mentum. In post-classical Latin the…

It is inherited from Middle English place, borrowed from Old French place (“place, spot; open space”) and directly from Medieval Latin placea (“place, spot”), from Vulgar Latin *plattea, from Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English point, pointe, a merger of two Old French words. One is borrowed from Old French point (“prick, dot, mark; small measure of space or time”), from Latin pūnctum…

It is inherited from Middle English poisoun, borrowed from Old French poison (“a drink, potion, poisonous drink”), from Latin pōtiō (“a drinking, a drink; a poisonous drink”), from pōtō, to drink…

It is inherited from Middle English poure, borrowed from Old French povre, also poure, from Latin pauper (“poor”), from pre-Latin *pau-paros “getting little”, a compound of the roots of paucus…

1. The container is inherited from Middle English pot, inherited from Old English pott, reinforced in Middle English by Old French pot. Both are from Vulgar Latin *pottus, of uncertain origin…

It is inherited from Middle English pris, borrowed from Old French pris (“price, value, wages, reward; honour, praise”) (modern prix), from Latin pretium (“reward, prize, value, price”). Etymonline…

It is borrowed from Old French prince (“prince, noble lord”), from Latin prīnceps (“first person, chief, ruler”) (genitive prīncipis), the noun use of an adjective meaning “that takes first”, from…

It is inherited from Middle English professiun, borrowed from Old French profession and directly Latin professio (“public declaration; avowed occupation”), from professus, past participle of…

It is inherited from Middle English preove, later prōf, borrowed from Anglo-Norman preove, Old French proeve, prueve “proof, test, experience” (modern French preuve), from Late Latin proba (“a…

It is inherited from Middle English prosperite, borrowed from Old French prosperité and directly Latin prosperitās (“good fortune”), from prosperus (“favourable, doing well”) (see prosper).