English words first recorded in the 13th century

It is inherited from Middle English confirmyen, confermen, borrowed from Old French confermer (“to strengthen, establish”) and directly from Latin cōnfirmō (“to make firm, strengthen”), from con-…

It is inherited from Middle English contre, borrowed from Old French contree or cuntree (“region, district”), from Vulgar Latin *contrāta, short for *terra contrāta (“land lying opposite”), the…

It is inherited from Middle English creke, altered from earlier kryk or crike (1220–30, and in place names from the 12th century), probably borrowed from Old Norse kriki (“corner, nook”), perhaps…

It is inherited from Middle English cryme, borrowed from Old French crime, crimne “crime, mortal sin”, from Latin crīmen (“charge, accusation; fault, offense”) (genitive crīminis), probably from…

It is inherited from Middle English defaute, borrowed from Old French defaute (“fault, defect, failure, lack”), formed on defaillir (“to fail”) on the model of faute (fault) and faillir (fail), and…

It is inherited from Middle English defenden, borrowed from Old French defendre and directly from Latin dēfendō (“to ward off, protect”), from dē- “away” and -fendere “to strike, push”, found only…

It is inherited from Middle English descriven, borrowed from Old French descrivre, descrire (13th century), and directly from Latin dēscrībō (“to write down, copy; sketch, represent”), from dē…

It is inherited from Middle English dreem, drem, corresponding in sense to Old Norse draumr, Old Frisian drām, Old Saxon drōm, Dutch droom and Old High German troum (German Traum), from…

It is inherited from Middle English exaumple (earlier asaumple), borrowed from Old French example, a form of essample reshaped after Latin, from Latin exemplum (“a sample, specimen; a pattern…

It is inherited from Middle English excepcioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman excepcioun (“a formal objection”) (Old French excepcion), from Latin exceptiō (“an exception, restriction; an objection”)…

It is inherited from Middle English feith, also fey, borrowed from Anglo-Norman fed and Old French feid, feit, from Latin fidēs (“trust, belief”), from the base of fīdō (“to trust”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English faucon, borrowed from Old French faucon or falcun, the oblique case of fauc, from Late Latin falcō (“falcon”). The Late Latin word is of uncertain origin. It is…

1. The adjective is inherited from Middle English fin, borrowed from Old French fin (“perfected, of the highest quality”), from Latin fīnis (“boundary, limit, end”) in the sense “acme, height”, as…

It is inherited from Middle English garisoun, also garison, borrowed from Old French garison (“defence, protection, provision, store”), also gareison and guerison, from garir (“to defend, preserve…

It is inherited from Middle English gift, borrowed from Old Norse gift (“gift; good luck”), also written gipt, from Proto-Germanic *geftiz, from *geb- (“to give”), the base of give, from…

It is inherited from Middle English glaren (“to shine brightly, glitter; to stare”). The OED treats it as a native word matching Middle Dutch glaren and Middle Low German glaren (“to gleam, glare”)…

It is inherited from Middle English holocaust, borrowed from Old French holocauste or directly Late Latin holocaustum, from Ancient Greek ὁλόκαυστον (holókauston, “a thing wholly burnt”), the neuter…

It is inherited from Middle English hoppere, also hoper and oppere, formed from English hop + -er. The OED and Barnhart think an Old English *hoppere (“dancer”) probably existed, since Old English…

1. The receiver of guests is inherited from Middle English oste, later hoste, borrowed from Old French oste (“guest, host, landlord”), from Latin hospitem, accusative of hospes (“guest, stranger…

It is inherited from Middle English hostel, also ostel, borrowed from Old French hostel, also ostel, from Medieval Latin hospitāle (“inn, large house, hospice”). The Old French word, recorded from…

It is inherited from Middle English houlen, earlier hulen, probably of imitative origin. It corresponds to Middle Dutch hūlen (“to howl”), Dutch huilen, Middle Low German hūlen, Middle High German…

It is inherited from Middle English umble, later humble, borrowed from Old French umble (“humble”), humble, earlier humele, from Latin humilis (“lowly, humble”), literally on the ground, from humus…

It is formed from English hunt + -er, Middle English hunter, from hunten “to hunt”. It replaced the Old English agent noun hunta, Middle English hunte.

It is inherited from Middle English idele, borrowed from Old French idele, later idole, from Late Latin īdōlum (“image, form, apparition”), used in Church Latin for a false god, from Ancient Greek…

It is inherited from Middle English enke, later inke, borrowed from Old French enque (“dark writing fluid”), enche, from Late Latin encaustum (“purple ink”), from Greek ἔγκαυστον (énkauston), the…

It is inherited from Middle English lanterne, borrowed from Old French lanterne (“lamp, lantern, light”), recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1160–74, from Latin lanterna (“lantern, lamp, torch”), also…

It is inherited from Middle English maintenen, mayntenen, mainteinen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman meintenir, Old French maintenir “to keep a wife, sustain; persevere in, practise continually”, from…

It is inherited from Middle English malicious, also malicieus, borrowed from Anglo-Norman malicious and Old French malicios, malicieux (modern French malicieux), recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1155…

It is inherited from Middle English memorie, borrowed from Anglo-Norman memorie, Old French memoire, and directly from Latin memoria (“memory, remembrance, faculty of remembering”), from memor…

It is borrowed from Old French metal (“metal; material, substance”), from Latin metallum (“metal, mineral; mine, quarry”), from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon, “mine, quarry; later metal, ore”)…

It is inherited from Middle English moneie, moneye, borrowed from Old French moneie (“money, coin; change”) (modern French monnaie), from Latin monēta (“mint; coinage, money”), from Monēta, a title…

It is inherited from Middle English morwe, also morewe, a form of morwen that lost its final -n, inherited from Old English morgen (“morning”). The same Middle English word gave morn, by loss of the…

It is inherited from Middle English musike, borrowed from Old French musique, and directly borrowed from Latin mūsica (“the art of music”), from Ancient Greek μουσική (mousikḗ), short for μουσικὴ…

It is inherited from Middle English naturel, borrowed from Old French naturel, natural (“of nature; by birth”), and directly from Latin nātūrālis (“by birth, according to nature”), from nātūra…

It is a contraction of the unstressed form of neither, inherited from Middle English nauther or nother, influenced in form by or. Some derive it instead from Middle English ne (“not”) and the…

It is inherited from Middle English observaunce, partly borrowed from Old French observance (“observance, discipline”), recorded from about 1260 and in the French version of the “Ancrene Riwle”, and…

It is inherited from Middle English office (earlier offiz), borrowed from Old French office (Anglo-French ofice) and directly borrowed from Latin officium (“service, duty, function”). Officium is…

It is inherited from Middle English often, an extended form of oft, probably influenced by its opposite, Middle English selden (“seldom”). RHWU and Etymonline note that the Middle English form was…

It is a compound of out and the verb let, formed after let out.

It is inherited from Middle English peinten, borrowed from Old French peintier (“to paint”), from peint, the past participle of peindre, from Latin pingō (“to paint, embroider, tattoo”), from a…

It is inherited from Middle English peire, borrowed from Old French paire (“pair, couple”) and directly from Medieval Latin paria (“equals”), the neuter plural of Latin pār (“equal; a pair…

It is inherited from Middle English pane, also pan, borrowed from Anglo-Norman pan, also pane, and Old French pan (“piece, section, panel; skirt of a garment”), from Latin pannus (“cloth, piece of…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English pilen (later pelen), inherited from Old English pilian (“to peel, strip”), which Hoad notes is recorded only late; the Old English verb is borrowed from…

It is inherited from Middle English plate, borrowed from Old French plate (“thin piece of metal”) (late 12th century), a noun use of the feminine of plat “flat”, and directly from Medieval Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English ple, borrowed from Anglo-Norman plai and Old French plait, plaid (“agreement, lawsuit, decree”), from Medieval Latin placitum (“lawsuit, court day”), in classical…

It is inherited from Middle English plente, borrowed from Old French plenté, earlier plentet “abundance, profusion”, from Latin plēnitās (“fullness”) (accusative plēnitātem), from plēnus (“full”)…

It is inherited from Middle English portraien, also purtraien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman purtraire and Old French portraire (“to draw, paint, portray”), formed from por- (“forth”), from Latin prō-…

It is inherited from Middle English preciouse, precious, borrowed from Old French precios (“precious, costly, honourable”) (modern French précieux), from Latin pretiōsus (“costly, valuable”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English presumpcioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman presumcioun and Old French presumpcion, presompcion, and directly borrowed from Latin praesūmptiō (“anticipation…

It is inherited from Middle English pur, pure, borrowed from Old French pur (“pure, simple, absolute, unalloyed; sheer, mere”), and directly from Latin pūrus (“clean, clear; unmixed; unadorned…

1. The crossbow bolt is inherited from Middle English quarel, borrowed from Old French quarel (“bolt, arrow”) (plural quarreaus, modern French carreau), from Vulgar Latin *quadrellus, a diminutive…

1. The verb meaning “to annul” is inherited from Middle English quassen, borrowed from Old French quasser (“to annul, declare void”) (modern French casser), and probably directly Medieval Latin…

1. The stone is inherited from Middle English rokke, also roc and roche, found in Old English rocc, as in stānrocc “stone rock, obelisk”, and partly developed from it, but more directly borrowed…

It is inherited from Middle English roten, apparently borrowed from Old Norse rotinn (“decayed”), which looks like the past participle of a lost Germanic strong verb; the related weak verbs include…

It is inherited from Middle English royal, borrowed from Old French roial (“royal, regal; splendid, magnificent”) (modern royal), from Latin rēgālis (“of a king, kingly”), from rēx (“king”)…

It is inherited from Middle English sauvage, savage, borrowed from Old French sauvage (“wild, untamed, strange, pagan”), salvage (Anglo-Norman savage), from Late Latin salvāticus, an alteration by…

It is inherited from Middle English scume, also scome, probably borrowed from Middle Dutch schūm (“foam, froth”), now Dutch schuim, or the related Middle Low German schūm, from Proto-Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle English sighen, probably a back-formation from sighte, the past tense of siche, inherited from Old English sīcan (“to sigh”). Merriam-Webster sees an alteration after…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English soillen, borrowed from Old French souillier (“to make dirty; originally, to wallow”), from souil “tub, wild boar's wallow, pigsty”. This is either from…

It is inherited from Middle English spirit, borrowed from Anglo-Norman spirit, Old French espirit, and directly from Latin spīritus (“breathing, breath; life, soul, courage”), from spīrō (“to…