English words first recorded in the 12th century

It is inherited from Middle English proven, also pruven and preven, borrowed from Old French prover (“to show, convince, put to the test”), from Latin probō (“to test, prove worthy, demonstrate”)…

It is inherited from Middle English keie, also kai and cai, borrowed from Anglo-Norman kaye, also kai and key, and cai (now quai). The Anglo-Norman word, recorded from 1199, meant a stone landing…

It is inherited from Middle English questiun (later questioun), borrowed from Anglo-Norman questiun and Old French question (“question, difficulty; legal inquest, torture”), and directly borrowed…

It is inherited from Middle English quiten, borrowed from Old French quiter (“to clear, release, absolve”), from the adjective quite, quitte “free, clear, discharged”, from Medieval Latin quittus…

It is inherited from Middle English reisen, borrowed from Old Norse reisa (“to raise, cause to rise”), from Proto-Germanic *raizijaną, the causative of the root of rise. It is cognate with Gothic…

It is inherited from Middle English renge, borrowed from Old French renge, range (“row, rank”), from rengier, rangier (“to put in a row, arrange”), from reng, rang (“line, row”), from Frankish…

It is inherited from Middle English redi (also rædi), inherited from Old English rǣde (“prepared, ready”) (usually gerǣde) extended with the suffix -y, from Proto-Germanic *(ga)raitha- (“arranged”)…

It is inherited from Middle English reisun (later resoun), borrowed from Anglo-Norman resoun, Old French reson or raison, from a Romance form of Latin ratiō (“reckoning, account; understanding…

The verb is inherited from Middle English recorden (“to repeat, recite”), borrowed from Old French recorder (“to tell, repeat, recite, report”), and directly from Latin recordor (“to remember, call…

It is inherited from Middle English religioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman religiun, Old French religion “piety, devotion; religious community”, and directly from Latin religiō (“respect for what is…

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman religius, Old French religious (modern French religieux), and directly from Latin religiōsus (“pious, devout, fearing the gods; scrupulous”), from religiō…

It is inherited from Middle English ridden, ruden, rudden, probably borrowed from Old Norse ryðja (“to clear (land) of obstructions”), or from an Old English *ryddan. Both go back to Proto-Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle English riote, borrowed from Old French riote (“dispute, quarrel, chatter”), masculine riot, corresponding to Old Occitan riota, both of uncertain origin. MWU traces it…

1. The fish is inherited from Middle English roche, apparently borrowed from Anglo-Norman roche, recorded in Anglo-Norman from the 12th century, beside Old French roche, roce and roque. The French…

It is inherited from Middle English robben, borrowed from Old French rober (“to rob, steal, pillage”), from a Germanic source, Proto-West Germanic *rauba “booty”, from Proto-Germanic *raubōną (“to…

It is borrowed from Old French roberie (“robbery, theft”), from rober, to rob (see rob), and -erie (see -ery).

The noun is inherited from Middle English rolle (“scroll, list”), borrowed from Old French rolle (“document, parchment scroll”), from Medieval Latin rotulus (“a roll of paper”), from Latin rotula…

It is inherited from Middle English rute, route, borrowed from Old French rute (“road, way, path”), from Latin rupta (“broken”) (via) “(a road) opened by force”, cut through a forest, the feminine…

1. It is inherited from Middle English rawe, rewe, inherited from Old English rāw (“a row, line; succession, hedgerow”), late Old English rēawe, rēwe, from Proto-Germanic *raiwiz or *rai(h)waz…

It is inherited from Middle English riwle, reule, borrowed from Old French riule, Norman reule “rule, custom, religious order”, from Vulgar Latin *regula, altered under the influence of regō “to…

It is inherited from Middle English safroun, also saffran, borrowed from Old French safran, from Medieval Latin safrānum, ultimately from Arabic زعفران (zaʿfarān), a word of unknown origin. The…

It is inherited from Middle English savacioun, borrowed from Old French salvaciun, and directly from Late Latin salvātiō, a Church Latin translation of Ancient Greek σωτηρία (sōtēría), formed from…

It is inherited from Middle English same, probably borrowed from Old Norse samr (“same”) (feminine and neuter sama), from Proto-Germanic *samaz, from Proto-Indo-European *samos (“same”), a suffixed…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English sauven, later saven, borrowed from Old French sauver, salver (“to keep safe, protect, redeem”), from Late Latin salvō (“to make safe”), from salvus…

1. The adjective is inherited from Middle English savure, also savery, borrowed from Old French savouré (“tasty, flavourful”), the past participle of savourer (“to taste”) (see savor), from Late…

It is an alteration of Middle English skerren, to frighten, borrowed from Old Norse skirra (“to frighten; to shrink from, shun”), from Old Norse skjarr, shy, timid, a word of unknown origin…

It is inherited from Middle English scribe, borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin scrība (“teacher of the Jewish law”), partly through Old French scribe, a special use of Latin scrība (“keeper of…

1. The stamp is Middle English seil, seel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman seal, from Old French seel (modern French sceau), from Vulgar Latin *sigellum, from Latin sigillum (“small picture, engraved…

It is inherited from Middle English sete, borrowed from Old Norse sæti (“seat, position”), from the stem of sitja (“to sit”), from Proto-Germanic *sæt-, the source also of Middle Dutch gesaete and…

It is inherited from Middle English semen (“to befit; to appear to be”), of Scandinavian origin: compare Old Norse sœma (“to honour; to conform to”), from sœmr (“fitting”). The Norse words are from…

It is an agent noun from sell and -er.

It is inherited from Middle English senat, borrowed from Old French senat, and directly from Latin senātus (“the highest council of the Roman state”), literally “council of elders”, from senex (“old…

It is formed from English send + -er, first recorded as Middle English sendere.

It is borrowed from Old French sentence (“judgment, decision; meaning; maxim”) (12th century), and directly from Latin sententia (“thought, opinion; judgment; a thought expressed, a saying”), an…

It is inherited from Middle English sergante, sergeaunt, borrowed from Old French sergent (“servant, court official, soldier”), serjant, from Medieval Latin serviens (“servant, vassal, soldier”)…

It is inherited from Middle English servaunt, borrowed from Old French servant (“servant; foot soldier”), a noun use of servant, serving, the present participle of servir, to attend, wait upon (see…

1. It is inherited from Middle English schere, probably an alteration of the dialect shire, bright, clear, pure, inherited from Old English scīr (“bright, clear, translucent, pure”), perhaps…

1. The roof tile is inherited from Middle English scincle, later schingle, probably borrowed from Late Latin scindula, an alteration of Latin scandula (“shingle”), of uncertain origin, influenced by…

1. The word for a fragment is inherited from Middle English shivere, early scifre, probably from an Old English word that is not recorded. It is cognate with Old High German scivaro (“splinter”)…

It is inherited from Middle English sege, borrowed from Old French sege (“seat, throne”) (modern French siège), from Vulgar Latin *sedicum (“seat”), from an unattested verb *sedicō (“to sit…

It is inherited from Middle English signe, borrowed from Old French signe (“sign, mark”), and directly borrowed from Latin signum (“mark, token, signal; military standard”), of uncertain origin…

It is inherited from Middle English simple, borrowed from Old French simple (“plain, decent; naive, foolish”), from Latin simplus or simplex (“simple, plain, unmixed”), literally “one-fold”. The…

It is inherited from Middle English sire, borrowed from Old French sire (“lord, master”), recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1113–19, from Vulgar Latin *seior, an alteration of Latin senior (“older…

It is inherited from Middle English skinn, borrowed from Old Norse skinn (“animal hide, fur”), from Proto-Germanic *skinþą, the source also of rare late Old English scinn, Middle High German schint…

It is inherited from Middle English sculle, scolle, of uncertain origin, probably borrowed from Old Norse skalli (“a bald head, skull”), a general Scandinavian word (compare Swedish skalle)…

It is inherited from Middle English skie (“a cloud”), borrowed from Old Norse ský (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *skeujam (“cloud, cloud cover”), which is also the source of Old English scēo “cloud”…

It is inherited from Middle English sliken (“to smooth, polish”) for the verb and slike for the adjective, inherited from Old English -slician, recorded only in nigslicod (“newly made sleek”). The…

It is inherited from Middle English slitten, also slitte, a weak verb; Hoad and Ayto take it as inherited from Old English *slittan, an Old English form that is not recorded, related to the strong…

It is inherited from Middle English sobben, probably of imitative origin. Several dictionaries compare West Frisian sobje (“to suck”) and the Dutch dialect verb sabben (“to suck”), and the Middle…

It is a compound of some and what. It replaced Old English sumdǣl, sume dǣle “some portion”, literally “some deal”.

It is inherited from Middle English somwher, a compound from English some + where.

The verb is inherited from Middle English sparklen, early also sperclen, formed from Middle English sparke + -el as a frequentative of the verb sparken (“to emit sparks”); the OED derives it from…

It is inherited from Middle English spetiale (later speciale), borrowed from Old French especial, shortened, and directly borrowed from Latin speciālis (“individual, particular”), from speciēs…

It is inherited from Middle English spotte, spot, probably partly a variant of splott (“a spot, blot, patch of land”), and partly from or related to Middle Dutch spotte (“stain, speck”). Related…

It is inherited from Middle English spuse, borrowed from Old French spus (feminine spuse), a variant of espous (modern French époux), from Latin spōnsus (“bridegroom”) and spōnsa (“bride”), the…

It is inherited from Middle English spreden, probably inherited from Old English *sprǣdan, found in compounds such as tōsprǣdan “to spread out”, from Proto-West Germanic *spraidijan, a causative of…

The verb is inherited from Middle English spruten, later sprouten, inherited from Old English āsprūtan (“to sprout forth”), a strong verb found in Old English only with prefixes, as in the past…

It is inherited from Middle English stampen, to pound, crush, probably an alteration under Scandinavian influence of earlier *stempen, inherited from Old English stempan (“to pound in a mortar”)…

It is inherited from Middle English sterten (“to leap, move suddenly”), later starten, probably inherited from Old English styrtan (“to leap up”), recorded only once, in the Northumbrian participle…

It is inherited from Middle English stat, borrowed from Latin status (“manner of standing, position, condition”), partly through Old French estat, and partly a shortened form of estate. The Latin…