English words first recorded in the 13th century

It is inherited from Middle English sesoun, borrowed from Old French seison or saison (“season; right moment”), from Latin satiō (“a sowing, planting”) (accusative satiōnem), from satus, past…

It is inherited from Middle English serpent, also sarpent, borrowed from Old French serpent, also sarpent, and directly borrowed from Latin serpēns (“snake; creeping thing”). The Latin noun is the…

It is a Middle English formation from seven and -th, replacing sevende, seveth, which are inherited from Old English seofoþa, Anglian seofunda, from Proto-Germanic *sebunþô, from *sebun, seven…

1. The land word is Middle English schore, of uncertain origin: it may come from Old English scora, sceor-, found only in place names, or be borrowed from Middle Low German schōre (“shore, coast…

It is inherited from Middle English shouten, schowten, a word of unknown or uncertain origin. The OED thinks a derivation from the root of shoot probable, on the idea of throwing the voice out…

It is inherited from Middle English simenel, also simnel, borrowed from Old French simenel, Anglo-Norman symenel, and partly directly borrowed from Medieval Latin simenellus (“fine wheat flour; a…

It is inherited from Middle English singer, formed from English sing + -er. It replaced Old English sangere “singer, poet” and songere “psalmist”. A feminine singestre is found in the early 13th…

It is inherited from Middle English sengle, borrowed from Old French sengle (also single), from Latin singulus (“one, individual, separate”), mostly used in the plural singulī (“one by one”)…

It is formed from English sit + -er, Middle English sitten with the agent suffix; the verb sit is from Old English sittan. The OED compares Middle Dutch sitter, also zitter (Dutch zitter), and…

1. The dimensions are inherited from Middle English sise, borrowed from Old French sise, short for assise (“session, assessment, regulation, manner”), the source of assize, a noun use of the past…

It is inherited from Middle English skippen, probably from a Scandinavian source: compare Old Norse skopa (“to take a run”) and dialect Swedish skopa, to skip or leap, from Proto-Germanic *skupaną.

It is borrowed from Old Norse skyrta (“shirt, kirtle”), cognate with Old English scyrte, which gave shirt. Barnhart finds the shift from shirt to the lower part of a dress unclear, but compares…

It is inherited from Middle English slauhter, borrowed from Old Norse *slahtr, compare slátr (“butchering, butcher's meat”) and slátra (“to slaughter”), related to slá (“to strike”) (see slay), from…

It is inherited from Middle English sledde, borrowed from Middle Dutch sledde, a variant of slēde, now slede and slee. The OED and the Oxford Dictionary of English give the source as Middle Low…

It is, shortened, borrowed from Old French esclice (“splinter, small piece of wood”) (modern éclisse), from the verb esclicier, to splinter, shatter, from Frankish *slītan, to split, or another…

It is inherited from Middle English sleght, slight, originally northern, probably borrowed from Old Norse sléttr (“level, smooth, soft”), or developed from Old English -sliht, level, in eorþslihtes…

1. It is Middle English, borrowed from Old French esclot (“hoofprint of a deer or horse”), a word of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old Norse slóð, a track (see sleuth). 2. It is Middle English…

It is inherited from Middle English smilen, of uncertain origin: perhaps from Middle Low German *smilen or from a Scandinavian source, compare Swedish smila “to smile, smirk” and Danish smile. It is…

It is inherited from Middle English snaken (“to bite, snap”), probably borrowed from Middle Dutch snacken (“to snap at, bite, chatter”), a variant of snappen (see snap), perhaps imitative…

It is inherited from Middle English souder, soudiour, borrowed from Old French soudier, soldier (“one who serves in an army for pay”), from soulde “pay”, from Late Latin soldum, from Latin solidus…

It is formed from some and time with the adverbial ending -s, later taken as the plural ending. Etymonline treats it as sometime with the adverbial genitive -s.

It is inherited from Middle English space, borrowed from Old French espace (“period of time, distance, interval”) with its first syllable lost, which is a learned borrowing from Latin spatium…

It is inherited from Middle English specialte, borrowed from Old French especialte, the more vernacular form of specialite (see speciality), from Late Latin speciālitās, from speciālis (“special”)…

It is inherited from Middle English spere, borrowed from Old French espere (modern French sphère), respelled after Latin from the mid-15th century, from Latin sphaera (“globe, ball, celestial…

It is inherited from Middle English spirituel, borrowed from Old French spirituel and directly from Medieval Latin spīrituālis, from Latin spīrituālis (“of breath, of the spirit”), from spīritus…

It is Middle English, a shortening of despit, malice (see despite), from Old French despit, contempt (compare despise). It corresponds to Middle Dutch spijt and Middle Low German spyt.

It is inherited from Middle English splen, also splene, borrowed from Old French esplen, also esplien, shortened by the loss of its first syllable, or directly borrowed from Latin splēn (“spleen…

It is inherited from Middle English squatten (“to crush, squash”), borrowed from Old French esquatir, also esquater, from es-, from Latin ex- (“out”), and quatir (“to press down, flatten”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English stak, borrowed from Old Norse stakkr (“haystack”), compare Danish stak and Swedish stack, from Proto-Germanic *stakon-, a stake, related to Old English staca, a…

1. The adjective is inherited from Middle English stale, probably borrowed from Anglo-Norman estal (“of ale or wine, settled, left to clear”), estale (“slack, settled, clear”), from estaler (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English stalion, an alteration, recorded as stalyone in 1440, of earlier staloun or stalun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman estaloun, a variant of Old French estalon…

It is inherited from Middle English statut, borrowed from Old French statut (also estatut), and the OED now treats it as partly taken straight from Latin statūtum (“an ordinance”). Anglo-Norman used…

It is inherited from Middle English stoute, borrowed from Anglo-Norman stout, the northeastern dialect form of Old French estout (“brave, fierce, proud”), earlier estolt and estult. The Anglo-Norman…

It is inherited from Middle English stouen, a verb formed from Middle English stowe (“place”), from Old English stōw (“place, spot, site”), common in place names. The noun is from Proto-Germanic…

1. It is inherited from Middle English streinen, borrowed from Old French estreindre (“to bind tightly, clasp, squeeze”), from Latin stringere (“to draw tight, bind”), from PIE Proto-Indo-European…

It is inherited from Middle English strengthnen, from strength with the verb suffix -en. The earlier verb was simply strength (about 1200), and also strengen, from Old English gestrengan.

It is inherited from Middle English studie, borrowed from Old French estudie (“care, attention, study”) (modern French étude), a learned borrowing from Latin studium (“zeal, eagerness…

It is inherited from Middle English substaunce, borrowed from Old French substance, from Latin substantia (“being, essence, material”), from substans, the present participle of substāre (“to stand…

It is inherited from Middle English sotilte, also sutilte and subtilte, partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman sotilté, with Old French soutilté and sutilté, and partly formed from English subtle + -ty…

It is inherited from Middle English sodein, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sodein, or it is borrowed from Old French sodain (“immediate, sudden”), from Vulgar Latin *subitānus, a variant of subitāneus…

It is Middle English sunni, from sun with the suffix -y, compare Dutch zonnig and German sonnig.

It is inherited from Middle English sorgien, surgien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman surgien, a contraction of Old French serurgien, cirurgien, from cirurgie, surgery, from Latin chirurgia (“surgery”)…

It is inherited from Middle English sirgirie, surgerie, borrowed from Old French surgerie, a contraction of serurgerie, cirurgerie, from serurgien “surgeon”, ultimately from Latin chīrūrgia, from…

It is inherited from Middle English sweien (“to move, go quickly”), also sweȝen, probably borrowed from Old Norse sveigja (“to bend, swing, give way”), compare Old Danish svegja. The Old Norse verb…

It is Middle English, borrowed from Old French tablete (“small table, display counter”) (modern French tablette), a diminutive of table, a slab (see table), from Latin tabula, or from Medieval Latin…

It is a diminutive of targe (“a light shield”), which is late Old English targe and Old French targe, from *targa (“shield”) or another Germanic source, cognate with Old High German zarga “edge…

It is inherited from Middle English taske, borrowed from Old Northern French tasque (“duty, tax”) (Old French tasche, modern French tâche), from Vulgar Latin *tasca (“a duty, assessment”), a…

The verb is inherited from Middle English taxen, borrowed from Old French taxer (“to impose a tax”) and directly borrowed from Latin taxō (“to evaluate, estimate, assess, handle; to censure”), in…

It is inherited from Middle English tedden, probably borrowed from Old Norse teðja (“to spread manure”) (past tense tadda), related to tað (“dung”), or from an unrecorded Old English *teddan; it is…

It is inherited from Middle English tenour, also tenor, borrowed from Anglo-Norman tenur and tenour, tenor (“substance, contents, meaning; tenor part in music”), now teneur, from Latin tenor…

It is formed from their and the possessive -s, on the analogy of his and hers, so that in form it is a double possessive. The same pattern is found earlier in late Old English heres, from native…

It is inherited from Middle English teme, theme, borrowed from Old French tesme, with a silent s (modern French thème), and directly from Latin thema (“a subject, thesis”), from Ancient Greek θέμα…

It is an alteration of Middle English tham-self, theim-self, an emphatic and reciprocal plural pronoun of the 14th century, from them and self, with the plural ending -s. The SOED explains that self…

It is inherited from Middle English tyme, also time and thime, borrowed from Old French thym, also tym, and directly borrowed from Latin thymum, which is from Ancient Greek θύμον (thúmon). The…

It is inherited from Middle English touchen, tochen, borrowed from Old French tochier (“to touch, hit, knock; to mention, deal with”) (modern toucher), from Vulgar Latin *toccō (“to knock, strike…

It is inherited from Middle English tour (“a turn”), borrowed from Old French tour, earlier tor, torn “a turn, trick, round, circuit”, from torner (“to turn”), from Latin tornō (“to turn on a…

The verb is inherited from Middle English tourneien, also torneien and turneien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman turneier, a variant of tornoier, also torneier, to joust, tilt, literally to turn around…

The noun is borrowed from Old French trace (“mark, imprint, tracks”), a back-formation from the verb tracier (“to look for, follow, pursue”), from Vulgar Latin *tractiō (“to delineate, score”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English trailen, borrowed from Old French trailler, traillier (“to tow”), probably from Vulgar Latin *trāgulō “to drag”, from Latin trāgula “dragnet, sledge”, probably…

It is inherited from Middle English translaten, borrowed from Old French translater and directly Latin trānslātus (“carried over”), the past participle serving trānsferō (“to bring over, carry…