English words first recorded in the 13th century

It is formed from Middle English thenne (“from that place”) + -es (“adverbial genitive ending”), first written thannes and thennes; the Middle English Dictionary also records thens and thence. The…

It is inherited from Middle English torche, borrowed from Old French torche, which in Old French and Anglo-Norman meant both a torch of twisted tow dipped in pitch or wax and a twisted bundle of hay…

The noun is inherited from Middle English torment, also tourment and turment, borrowed from Old French torment, also tourment, Anglo-Norman turment, recorded from 1113–19 for torture, an instrument…

It is inherited from Middle English transcrit, also transcript, borrowed from Old French transcrit (“copy of a document”), recorded in Anglo-Norman from the 1170s, from Latin trānscrīptum (“a thing…

It is inherited from Middle English travelen, a variant of travailen (“to toil, labour; to make a journey”), borrowed from Old French travailler, which also gave travail. The form arose from a shift…

It is inherited from Middle English tresourer, borrowed from Anglo-Norman tresorer and Old French tresorier, from tresor (“treasure”) (see treasure), influenced by Late Latin thēsaurārius.

It is inherited from Middle English tresorie, borrowed from Old French tresorie (“treasury”), from tresor (“treasure”) (see treasure) and -y, after Medieval Latin thesauraria.

It is inherited from Middle English tiraunt, also tirant and tiran, borrowed from Old French tyrant, also tiran and Anglo-Norman tiraunt, from Latin tyrannus (“lord, master, despot”), from Ancient…

It is inherited from Middle English uncle, borrowed from Anglo-Norman uncle and Old French oncle, from Late Latin aunculus, from Latin avunculus (“mother's brother”), literally “little grandfather”…

It is formed from English un- + easy, first as unesi about 1300. Easy is from Old French aisie (“comfortable, at ease”), the past participle of aisier (“to put at ease”), from aise, the source of…

It is inherited from Middle English vacaunt, borrowed from Old French vacant (“idle, unoccupied”) (Anglo-Norman vacaunt), and partly directly Latin vacāns (“empty, unoccupied”), the present…

It is inherited from Middle English venimous, also venemous, borrowed from Anglo-Norman venimus, corresponding to Old French venimos and venimeus, modern venimeux. The French adjective is formed…

It is inherited from Middle English vile, also vil, borrowed from Anglo-Norman vil, also ville, and Old French vil, feminine vile, from Latin vīlis (“cheap, of little value, common, base”). The…

It is inherited from Middle English violence, borrowed from Old French violence, and directly from Latin violentia (“vehemence, impetuosity”), from violentus (“vehement, forcible”), probably related…

It is inherited from Middle English visioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman visioun, Old French vision “sight, view; dream, supernatural sight”, from Latin vīsiō (“act of seeing, sight, thing seen”)…

1. The solemn promise is inherited from Middle English vou, also vowe and vow, borrowed from Anglo-Norman vou, also vu, and Old French vo, vou or vowe (modern French vœu), from Latin vōtum (“a…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin certificātiō, or Middle French certification, a noun from the past participle of Late Latin certificō, to make certain (see certify).

It is inherited from Middle English conterroller, borrowed from Anglo-Norman contrerollour (late 13th century), Old French contrerolleor (modern contrôleur), from contreroller, to keep a copy of a…

It is inherited from Middle English damage, borrowed from Old French damage (“loss caused by injury”), domage (modern dommage), from dam, damme “loss, damage”, from Latin damnum (“loss, hurt…

It is inherited from Middle English desplayen, displayen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman despleier, Old French desploiir “to unfold, spread out” (modern French déployer), from Latin displicō (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English dowarie, borrowed from Anglo-Norman dowarie, douaire (“dower, gift”), from Medieval Latin dōtārium, from Latin dōtō (“to endow”), from dōs (“marriage portion”)…

It is inherited from Middle English extente, borrowed from Anglo-Norman extente, estente (“valuation; stretch of land”), from Medieval Latin extenta, the feminine past participle of Latin extendō…

It is inherited from Middle English enprisonment, borrowed from Anglo-Norman emprisonement (Old French emprisonnement (“capture, imprisonment”)), from emprisoner (see imprison) and -ment.

It is inherited from Middle English occupacioun, borrowed from Old French occupacion (“pursuit, work; occupancy”) (Anglo-Norman ocupacioun), from Latin occupatio (“a taking possession; business…

It is inherited from Middle English ordinarie, borrowed from Old French ordinarie and directly from Latin ōrdinārius (“customary, regular, orderly”), from ōrdō (“row, rank, order”), genitive…

It is inherited from Middle English panel, borrowed from Old French panel (“piece of cloth, saddle cushion”) (modern panneau), from Vulgar Latin *pannellus, a diminutive of Latin pannus “piece of…

The noun is short for “letters patent”, borrowed from Anglo-Norman lettre patente (“open letter”), Medieval Latin litterae patentes, from patent (“open”), from Latin patens (“lying open”), the…

It is borrowed from Old French prescription (13th century) and directly from Latin praescrīptiō, a writing before, an order or direction, a noun from praescrībō, to write before, ordain, from prae-…

It is inherited from Middle English punisshement, borrowed from Anglo-Norman punisement, punissement, from punir “to punish” (see punish) and the suffix -ment, the stem puniss- coming from Latin…

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman tenure (“a tenure, estate in land”) and Middle French tenure, from Old French tenir (“to hold”) (see tenable and tenant), from Latin teneō (“to hold”)…

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman tuycioun, Old French tuicion, guardianship, a learned borrowing of Latin tuitiō, a guarding, protection, from tueor, to look after, watch over, which Barnhart…

It is inherited from Middle English cloke, borrowed from Old French cloke, cloque, an Old North French variant of cloche (“bell; cloak”), from Medieval Latin clocca (“bell; travellers' cape”), so…

It is inherited from Middle English fendour (“defender”), formed from Middle English fenden + -our, from fend, a shortening of defend; the OED analyses it as fend with the suffix -er. Etymonline…

It is inherited from Middle English hank, also haneke, probably borrowed from Old Norse hǫnk (“a hank, coil, skein”), compare hanki (“a clasp, hasp of a chest”); the OED reconstructs an older form…

It is inherited from Middle English planke, first recorded as plaunke in 1294–95 and as a surname, Plank, from 1206, borrowed from Old Northern French planke, also recorded in the Anglo-Norman form…

1. The bar is inherited from Middle English reyle, raile, borrowed from Old French raille, reille (“bolt, bar”), from Vulgar Latin *regla, from Latin rēgula (“straight stick, rule”), a diminutive…

It is a variant of dialect brod, borrowed from Old Norse broddr (“spike, point, shaft”), from Proto-Germanic *brozdaz, source also of Old English brord, point, blade of grass, and Old High German…

It is inherited from Middle English grapel, also grabel and crappelle, borrowed from Old French grapil (“hook”), a diminutive of grape (“hook”). Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of…

It is borrowed from Latin jūnior (“younger”), the comparative of iuvenis “young; a young man”, from Proto-Indo-European *yeu- (“vital force, youthful vigour”), the root of young.

It is inherited from Middle English avis (“thought, judgment, opinion”), advis, borrowed from Old French avis (“opinion, view, judgment”), from the phrase ce m'est a vis “it seems to me”, from…

It is inherited from Middle English avisen, borrowed from Old French aviser (“to look at, consider, reflect”), from avis, opinion (see advice), from the phrase ço m'est à vis, it seems to me, or…

It is inherited from Middle English aliaunce, borrowed from Old French aliance (“alliance, bond, marriage”), from alier (“to combine, unite”), and the suffix -ance. See ally. The Latin noun was…

It is inherited from Middle English allien, borrowed from Old French alier (“to combine, unite”), allier, an analogical form of aleier, from Latin alligāre (“to bind to”), from ad-, to, and ligō, to…

The verb is inherited from Middle English appelen (“to accuse, appeal”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman apeler (“to call upon, accuse”), Old French apeler, from Latin appellō (“to accost, address…

It is inherited from Middle English archer, borrowed from Anglo-Norman archer, archier, from Late Latin arcārius, an alteration of arcuārius (“maker of bows”), from Latin arcus (“bow”). Hoad and…

It is inherited from Middle English asaut, assaut, borrowed from Old French asaut, assaut (“attack”), from Vulgar Latin *assaltus, from Latin ad- “to” and saltō, a frequentative of saliō “to leap”…

It is inherited from Middle English assemblen, borrowed from Old French assembler (“to come together, join, gather”), which came into English through Anglo-Norman; the Anglo-Norman verb is recorded…

It is inherited from Middle English assignen, also asinen and asseinen, borrowed from Old French assigner, also asiner and assener, from Latin assignō (“to mark out, allot, assign”), also adsignō…

It is inherited from Middle English assumpcioun, borrowed from Old French asompsion, assumpcion (modern French assomption), and directly from Latin assumptiō, assumptiōnem, a taking up, receiving…

It is inherited from Middle English aunte, borrowed from Anglo-Norman aunte, Old French ante (modern French tante, from a 13th-century variant), from Latin amita (“paternal aunt”), a diminutive of…

It is inherited from Middle English beverage, also buverage and berage, borrowed from Old French bevrage, also buverage, and Anglo-Norman beverage, now breuvage. The French noun is formed with the…

It began as the Middle English imperative phrase be ware, in the plural beth warre, probably about 1200, from Middle English been (“to be”) + war (“on one's guard”), that is, be and the adjective…

1. The archer is formed from English bow (“weapon for shooting arrows”) + man, first as inherited from Middle English boweman. As a surname it is recorded from the early 13th century, earlier than…

It is inherited from Middle English braunche, borrowed from Old French branche (“branch, bough, twig; branch of a family”) (12th century), from Late Latin branca (“footprint; later a claw, paw”), of…

It is borrowed from Old French cathedral and Late Latin cathedrālis, of the (bishop's) chair, from Latin cathedra, chair, from Greek καθέδρα (kathédrā, “seat, bench”), from κατά (katá), down, and…

It is borrowed from Old French caution (“security, surety”), and directly from Latin cautiō, care, precaution, from cautus, past participle of caveō, to beware, be on one's guard (see caveat), from…

It is inherited from Middle English chaunce, borrowed from Old French cheance (“accident, chance, fortune; the falling of dice”), from Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“that which falls out, a falling”), a…

It is inherited from Middle English chef, chief, borrowed from Old French chief, chef (“head, leader, ruler; capital city”), from Vulgar Latin *capum, the source also of Spanish cabo and Italian…

It is inherited from Middle English quer, borrowed from Old French cuer (“choir of a church”) (also quer), from Medieval Latin chorus (“body of church singers; part of a church”), from Latin chorus…

It is inherited from Middle English coler, coller, borrowed from Anglo-Norman coler, Old French colier, coler, neck, collar (modern French collier), from Latin collō, a band or chain for the neck…