English words first recorded in the 12th century

It is inherited from Middle English stoppen (“to plug, block”), inherited from Old English -stoppian, known only in forstoppian (“to stop up, stifle”). This is a West Germanic word, cognate with Old…

It is formed from English storm + -y. Middle English had stormi and sturmi. Dictionary.com derives it from Old English stormig, and Etymonline calls the 12th-century form storemig late Old English…

1. The narrative is inherited from Middle English storie, borrowed from Anglo-Norman estorie (Old French estoire, modern French histoire), and directly Late Latin storia, a shortening of Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English streit, also strait, borrowed from Anglo-Norman estreit (“tight, close, narrow”), a variant of estroit, now étroit (“narrow”), from Latin strictus (“drawn…

It is inherited from Middle English striken, inherited from Old English strīcan (“to pass lightly over, stroke, rub; to go, proceed”) (past tense strāc), from Proto-Germanic *strikanan, the source…

1. To remove the clothes is inherited from Middle English strepen, strupen, from Old English -strīepan, -strȳpan “to plunder, rob”, as in inherited from Old English bestrȳpan (“to plunder”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English sewen, suen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suer (“to follow, continue”), from sivre (“to follow”) (modern French suivre), from Vulgar Latin *sequō, from Latin sequī…

It is inherited from Middle English sunneliht, from sunne (“sun”) and liht (“light”) (see sun and light). Compare Dutch zonlicht and German Sonnenlicht.

It is inherited from Middle English swappen (“to strike, hit, hurl”), probably imitating the sound of a smart blow, though Barnhart calls it of unknown origin. The modern sense comes from striking…

Middle English swepen is of uncertain origin, but replaced swope, sweep (about 1200), inherited from Old English swāpan (“to sweep”) (see swoop), perhaps by extending the ē of the past tense swēop…

It is inherited from Middle English swounen, also swowenen and swoȝenen, probably a back-formation from Middle English swowening (“swooning, a fainting”); the OED calls the back-formation possible…

It is inherited from Middle English talken (“to speak, discourse”), probably a frequentative or diminutive formed from the Germanic base of tale or tell with the suffix -k, which is rare in English…

1. It is inherited from Middle English tendre, borrowed from Old French tendre (“soft, delicate, young”), earlier tenre, from Latin tener (“soft, delicate, of tender age”), probably cognate with…

It is inherited from Middle English terme, borrowed from Old French terme (“limit of time or place, date, duration”), from Latin terminus (“end, boundary line”), which in Medieval Latin, and in Late…

It is inherited from Middle English thohh (about 1200, in the Ormulum), which partly continues Old English þēah and is partly borrowed from Old Norse þó; the Norse forms replaced the Old English…

It is inherited from Middle English trone, later throne after the Latin form, borrowed from Old French trone, from Latin thronus, from Greek θρόνος (thrónos, “elevated seat, chair”), which Watkins…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English thwerten, from thwert (“across”), borrowed from Old Norse þvert (“across”), the neuter of þverr (“transverse”), from Proto-Germanic *þwerhaz (“twisted…

1. The parasite is inherited from Middle English tike (also teke), inherited from Old English ticia, a form recorded only once, in the Erfurt Glossary (before 800), that the OED and Hoad take as an…

1. It is inherited from Middle English tippe, not attested in Old English, probably borrowed from Middle Low German tip (“utmost point, extremity”) or Middle Dutch tip, or from a Scandinavian source…

It is inherited from Middle English tumbe, borrowed from Anglo-Norman tumbe (Old French tombe (“tomb, monument”)), from Late Latin tumba (“burial mound”), from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “mound…

It is inherited from Middle English turnement, tornement, borrowed from Anglo-Norman turnement, tornement, variants of Old French torneiement, from torneier “to joust, tilt, take part in…

It is inherited from Middle English trinite, borrowed from Old French trinité (“the Holy Trinity”), from Late Latin trīnitās (“Trinity, triad”) (in Tertullian), a translation of Ancient Greek τριάς…

It is inherited from Middle English troublen, borrowed from Old French trubler (“to disturb, make cloudy”), a form of turbler with the sounds swapped, from Vulgar Latin *turbulō, from Late Latin…

The noun is inherited from Middle English truste, probably borrowed from Old Norse traust (“help, confidence, protection”), from Proto-Germanic *traustą, related to Old Norse traustr (“strong”). The…

It is inherited from Middle English toggen, later tuggen. The OED, Hoad and Klein take it as an intensive formed on the weak grade of Proto-Germanic *teuhaną (“to pull”), the source of Old English…

It is inherited from Middle English unlik, formed from un- “not” and like. Its early spread in northern and eastern areas suggests that it was first an adaptation of Old Norse úlíkr, corresponding…

It is inherited from Middle English unsene, also unseyn and unsehene, formed from English un- + seen, the past participle of see, which goes back to Old English sēon and Proto-Germanic *sehwaną…

It is from English un- + stable. A similar formation is Middle High German unstabel.

It is a Middle English compound, from Middle English un- (“as far as, up to”) + til (“till”), the first element being from Old Norse *und (“as far as, up to”), preserved in unz “until”, from und es…

It is formed from English un- + timely, first as inherited from Middle English untimliche, an adverb. Old English had a similar untīdlīc (“unseasonable”), from the word that became tide, and the OED…

It is a Middle English compound, upsetten, of up and set, with a similar formation in Middle Dutch opsetten “to set up, propose” and German aufsetzen.

The verb is inherited from Middle English usen, borrowed from Old French user (“to employ, make use of, practise”), from Vulgar Latin *ūsō, a frequentative formed on the past-participle stem of…

1. The front of a shoe is inherited from Middle English vaumpe, borrowed from Anglo-Norman vampe, a shortening of Old French avantpié (modern French avant-pied), from avant (“in front”) and pié…

It is inherited from Middle English vanite, borrowed from Old French vanité (“self-conceit; futility”), from vānitās (“emptiness, falsity, foolish pride”), formed with the noun suffix that became…

It is inherited from Middle English vat, also veat, the southern and western form of fat, inherited from Old English fæt (“vessel, cup, vat”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *fatą (“vessel, cask”)…

It is inherited from Middle English virgine, borrowed from Old French virgine (“virgin; the Virgin Mary”) (modern French vierge), a learned borrowing of Latin virgō (“maiden, unwedded girl”) (stem…

It is inherited from Middle English visiten, borrowed from Old French visiter (“to visit; to inspect; to afflict”) and directly borrowed from Latin vīsitō (“to go to see, come to inspect”), a…

It is inherited from Middle English waiten, borrowed from Old Northern French waitier (“to watch”), a form of Old French gaitier, modern French guetter (“to watch for”), from Frankish *wahtōn (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English walken, also walkien, a merger of two Old English verbs, wealcan (“to toss, roll; to wander”) and wealcian (“to roll up, curl, muffle up”), both from…

The verb is inherited from Middle English wasten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman waster, Old Northern French waster “to waste, spoil, ruin” (Old French gaster, modern French gâter), from Latin vāstō…

It is a compound from Middle English wher + bi, that is where and by.

It is formed from earlier wicke, wick, wicked, evil (1154), perhaps an adjective use of Old English wicca (“wizard”) (see witch), and -ed. It is formed as if a past participle, but there is no…

It is inherited from Middle English wildernesse, formed from wildern (“wild, savage”) and -nesse (see -ness). Wildern is inherited from Old English wilddēoren (“of or like wild beasts”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English withdrawen, from with in its old sense away, and drawen, to draw (see draw), probably influenced by, if not a loan translation of, Latin retrahō, to retract…

It is inherited from Middle English withholden, formed from Middle English with- (“back, away”) + holden (“to hold”). Barnhart and Etymonline think it was probably modelled on, or a loan translation…

It is inherited from Middle English wrecched, formed irregularly from Middle English wrecche (“wretched, miserable”) + -ed, like wicked. The adjective wrecche goes back to late Old English and comes…

The verb is inherited from Middle English accorden, late Old English acordan, borrowed from Old French acorder (“to reconcile, agree”), also acorder, from Vulgar Latin *accordō (“to bring into…