English words first recorded in the 13th century

It is inherited from Middle English treten, borrowed from Old French traitier (“to deal with, act toward”), Anglo-Norman treter, from Latin tractō (“to handle, manage, deal with”), literally “to…

1. It is inherited from Middle English twicchen, which the OED takes as probably the reflex of an unrecorded verb Old English *twiccan; Etymonline, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster relate it to Old…

It is formed from English un- + broken. The Middle English forms were unbroken, unbrokon and unbroke. Old English had ungebrocen (“unbroken”). The OED compares Middle Dutch ongebroken and Middle…

It is formed from un-, not, and certain.

It is formed from un- and clear. Similar formations are Middle Dutch onclaer, Dutch onklaar, German unklar, Danish uklar and Swedish oklar.

It is formed from English un- + cover, with the prefix that reverses an action, and appears in Middle English as uncoveren. Cover is from Old French covrir (“to cover, protect, conceal”), from Latin…

It is from un- and happy, or from Middle English unhap, misfortune, mishap (from Old Norse úhapp; see hap) with the suffix -y.

It is Middle English unite, borrowed from Anglo-Norman unite, Old French unité (“uniqueness, oneness”), from Latin ūnitās (“oneness, sameness, agreement”), from ūnus (“one”) (see one), from PIE…

It is inherited from Middle English universite, borrowed from Old French universite (“universality; academic community”) (Anglo-French université), from Medieval Latin ūniversitās (“university”)…

It is inherited from Middle English unknowen, formed from English un- + known, the past participle of know. Compare Old English ungecnāwen.

It is formed from English un- (“not”) + lawful, in Middle English unlauful, also unlaweful and in the north unlaghful. lawful itself is formed from law and -ful, and the OED compares Old Norse…

It is inherited from Middle English unmaried, formed from Middle English un- (“not”) + maried (“married”), the prefix un- with married, the past participle of marry. The verb came through Old French…

It is inherited from Middle English unreste, formed from English un- (“not”) + rest (“repose, ease”). Similar words exist in the neighbouring languages: West Frisian ûnrêst, Middle Low German…

It is formed from Middle English up + -er, originally the comparative of up, replacing the earlier adjective over. Middle Dutch upper, Dutch opper, Low German upper and Norwegian yppare are similar…

1. The verb meaning to avail is inherited from Middle English vailen, also vaile and vaillen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman vailer, also vailler, forms of Old French valoir (“to be worth”) built on its…

It is inherited from Middle English vein, also vain and veine, borrowed from Old French vain, also vein, inherited from Latin vānus (“empty, void; idle, fruitless”). The Anglo-Norman form is…

1. The valley is inherited from Middle English vale, also wale and vaal, borrowed from Old French val (“valley”), from Latin vallis, also vallēs (“valley”). Etymonline dates the Old French word to…

It is inherited from Middle English valour, also valor, borrowed from Old French valour, also valor, from Late Latin valor (“value, worth”), from valeō (“to be strong, be worth”), from…

1. The arched roof is inherited from Middle English vaute, borrowed from Old French voute (“vault, arch, vaulted roof”) (modern French voûte), from Vulgar Latin *volta, contracted from *volvita, an…

It is borrowed from Old French veine, from Latin vēna (“blood vessel; watercourse; vein of metal; natural talent”), a word of uncertain origin. The Anglo-Norman Dictionary records veine from the…

It is inherited from Middle English veneu, borrowed from Old French venue (“a coming”), the noun use of the feminine past participle of venir (“to come”), from Latin venīre (“to come”), from PIE…

It is borrowed from Latin vertex (“whirl, whirlpool; crown of the head; highest point”), from vertō (“to turn”), so that its first sense was "that which turns", a whirling column or eddy. The…

It is Middle English vessel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman vessel, vessele, vaissel (“container, barrel; ship”), from Late Latin vascellum (“small vase or urn; ship”), a diminutive of vasculum, itself…

It is inherited from Middle English victorie, borrowed from Anglo-Norman victorie, Old French victorie (French victoire), and directly from Latin victōria (“victory”), from the feminine of an…

It is inherited from Middle English vyne, borrowed from Old French vigne, also vine, inherited from Latin vīnea (“vineyard, vine”), the feminine of vīneus (“of wine”) used as a noun, from vīnum…

It is, through Anglo-French, borrowed from Old French voide, feminine of voit, empty, vast, hollow, a dialect variant of Old French vuide (modern French vide), from Vulgar Latin *vocitus, related to…

It is inherited from Middle English vote, first Scots, borrowed from Latin vōtum (“a vow, wish, promise, dedication”), the noun use of the neuter of vōtus, past participle of voveō (“to promise…

It is from Middle English walken + -er, an agent noun from the verb walk.

It is inherited from Middle English wayke, weke, borrowed from Old Norse veikr (“lacking strength”), cognate with Old English wāc “weak, pliant, soft”, which did not survive past late Middle…

It is inherited from Middle English wei (“a small amount”), from the phrase a littel wei, inherited from Old English wǣġe (“weight”) (Anglian wēġe), related to wegan (“to weigh”) (see weigh and…

It is a Middle English compound of what and ever, an emphatic form of what. It is poetically contracted to whate'er.

It is the past-participle adjective of write, inherited from Middle English writen, also written, inherited from Old English gewriten, the past participle of wrītan (“to score, carve; to write”).

It is inherited from Middle English youres, formed from your and the possessive -s, on the model of his and ours. It is the absolute form of your, used when no noun follows.

It is a compound, from English your + self, though the Shorter Oxford notes that your was originally the pronoun and self an adjective, later understood as a possessive and a noun.