English words first recorded in the 14th century

1. The word for the pitcher is inherited from Middle English euer, borrowed from Anglo-Norman ewer, which the OED takes to be an unrecorded *ewiere, parallel to Old French aiguiere and eviere, now…

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman fet, Old French fait, deed, achievement, from Latin factum (“a thing done”), the noun use of the past participle of faciō, to do, make; fact is its doublet. The…

It is inherited from Middle English frenetik, also frentik and frantik, borrowed from Old French frenetike and directly borrowed from Latin phrenēticus (“delirious”). The Latin word is taken from…

The verb is inherited from Middle English giden, borrowed from Old French guider (“to guide, lead”), an alteration, influenced by Old Occitan guidar or Italian guidare, of earlier guier, from…

It is borrowed from Old French enfant, early made more like the Latin, or directly from Latin īnfāns (“young child, babe in arms”), the noun use of an adjective meaning “not able to speak”, from…

It is inherited from Middle English milioun (also mylion), borrowed from Old French million, probably from Old Italian millione (now milione), literally “a great thousand”, the augmentative of mille…

It is Middle English nou adayes, nowadayes, from now and adayes, during the day, originally a dayes, a phrase of a, on, and dayes, the genitive of dai, day.

Its origin is uncertain. Etymonline and Ayto take it as borrowed from Anglo-Norman *robel (“bits of broken stone”), a form not recorded, which Ayto, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of…

1. The bun is inherited from Middle English wigge, borrowed from Middle Low German wigge (“wedge, wedge-shaped cake”) or wigge, a by-form of wegge. It is related to Dutch wig (“wedge”), Middle Dutch…

It is inherited from Middle English allowaunce, borrowed from Middle French alouance (“sanction, granting, allocation”), from alouer (“to allot, assign; to approve”) (see allow). Like allow, it…

It is inherited from Middle English babi (also baby, babee), a diminutive of babe with the suffix -y. Like babe, it is probably imitative of the repeated “ba” of an infant's first attempts at…

It is inherited from Middle English confessen, borrowed from Old French confesser, from Vulgar Latin *cōnfessō, a verb formed on Latin cōnfessus, the past participle of cōnfiteor (“to acknowledge…

It is inherited from Middle English confessioun, borrowed from Middle French confession, from Latin cōnfessiō (“confession, acknowledgement”), from the past participle of cōnfiteor (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English dime (“tenth part, tithe”), borrowed from Old French disme, dime (“tenth part”), from Latin decima (“tenth part”), short for decima pars, the feminine of decimus…

It is inherited from Middle English devorse, divorce, borrowed from Old French divorce, from Latin dīvortium (“separation, dissolution of marriage”), from dīvortere, a variant of dīvertō (“to turn…

It is inherited from Middle English experience, borrowed from Old French experience (“experiment, proof, experience”), a learned borrowing from Latin experientia (“a trial, proof; knowledge gained…

It is formed from English fire + man. For a stoker, Old English had fýrbéta (“one who looks after the fire”), glossing Latin focārius.

It is inherited from Middle English firwode, also ferwode, formed from Middle English fir (“fire”) + wode (“wood”), the ancestors of fire and wood. It is also written with a hyphen, “fire-wood”.

It is inherited from Middle English flux, early also flix, borrowed from Old French flux (Etymonline gives flus), or directly from Latin flūxus (“a flowing, flow”), a noun from the past participle…

1. The horticultural and surgical word is an alteration of earlier graff, which is inherited from Middle English graffe, also craffe and griffe, borrowed from Old French grafe, also grefe and…

It is inherited from Middle English impacient, also inpaciente and enpacient, borrowed from Old French impacient, also impatient, from Latin impatiēns (“that cannot bear, intolerant”). The Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English kitoun, also ketoun, probably borrowed from Anglo-Norman *kitoun, an unrecorded Anglo-Norman variant of Old French chitoun, also cheton, now French chaton, a…

It is inherited from Middle English lawiere, lauier, lawere, formed from Middle English lawe “law” and -iere, that is, from law and -yer. The spelling with y is first recorded in 1611 and prevailed…

It is a shortening of alone, by mistaken division of alone as a lone, or by loss of the weakly stressed a-. It is used before a noun, while alone is used after a verb, as live beside alive.

It is inherited from Middle English lousi, formed from Middle English lous + -i, from louse and the adjective suffix -y. louse is from Old English lūs, from Proto-Germanic *lūs, whose descendants…

1. The sixtieth of an hour is inherited from Middle English minute, borrowed from Old French minut or directly borrowed from Medieval Latin minūta (“minute of time; short note”), short for pars…

1. It is inherited from Middle English mom, mum, probably imitating an inarticulate sound made with closed lips, compare Middle Low German mummen and Dutch mommen. It is related to mumble and mumps…

It is Middle English, borrowed from Old French provincial (“belonging to a province of friars”), from Latin prōvinciālis (“of a province”), from prōvincia (see province).

It is inherited from Middle English registre, borrowed from Old French registre, regestre (13th century), and directly from Medieval Latin registrum, regestrum, an alteration of Late Latin regesta…

It is formed from English slime + -y. Slime is from Old English slīm (“soft mud”), from Proto-Germanic *slīmaz. Similar adjectives were formed in other Germanic languages: slimich, now Dutch…

It is inherited from Middle English swimmer, formed from Middle English swimmen (“to swim”) + -er, that is from the verb swim and the agent suffix -er. The OED compares Middle Low German swemmer…

It is inherited from Middle English testifien, borrowed from Latin testificor (“to bear witness”) (late Latin testificāre), from testis (“a witness”) and -ficō (“-making”), from faciō (“to make…

1. The verb meaning to pull is inherited from Middle English touen, also togen and towen, inherited from Old English togian (“to drag, pull”), from Proto-Germanic *tugōną. It is cognate with Old…

It is inherited from Middle English wafre, borrowed from Anglo-Norman wafre, a variant of Old Northern French waufre (“honeycomb, wafer”), which corresponds to central French gaufre, the source of…

It is inherited from Middle English wareine, borrowed from Anglo-Norman warenne, a northern variant of Old French garenne (“game park, hunting reserve”), of uncertain origin: possibly from Gaulish…

It is inherited from Middle English wranglen, which the OED calls of uncertain origin. Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from Low German wrangeln (“to dispute; to wrestle”), or at least compare…

The noun is partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman censure and Middle French censure, a punishment imposed by the church, and partly a direct borrowing of their source, borrowed from Latin cēnsūra…

It is inherited from Middle English college, borrowed from Old French college (“collegiate body”), a learned borrowing from Latin collēgium (“fellowship, community, guild”), from collēga (“partner…

It is inherited from Middle English excepte, borrowed from Old French excepté or directly borrowed from Latin exceptus, the past participle of excipiō (“to take out, withdraw; make an exception”)…

It is inherited from Middle English frantik, a variant of frentik and frenetik, borrowed from Old French frenetique (modern French frénétique), from Late Latin phrenēticus (“delirious”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English imparfit, also inparfit, borrowed from Anglo-Norman inparfait, also inparfit, and imparfait, which in Old French meant "incomplete, lacking some necessary part"…

It is inherited from Middle English infecten, also enfecten and infetten, borrowed from Latin īnfectus, the past participle of īnficiō (“to dip in, dye, stain, taint, corrupt”), formed from in-…

It is a verbal noun from linen (“to line a garment”) (see line) and -ing.

It is inherited from Middle English notwithstondinge, also notwiþstondynge, formed from Middle English not + withstondinge, the present participle of withstonden (“to resist, withstand”). It was…

It is inherited from Middle English plurel, also plural, borrowed from Anglo-Norman plural, also plurel, with its Old French counterpart plurel (“more than one”), and directly borrowed from Latin…

1. It is inherited from Middle English posen, borrowed from Old French poser (“to put, place, propose”), from Late Latin pausāre (“to halt, rest, cease”) (see pause). The Late Latin verb also meant…

1. The prayer book or first reading book is borrowed from Medieval Latin prīmārium and prīmārius (“prayer book, devotional manual”), the nouns of the neuter and masculine of Latin prīmārius (“of the…

It is inherited from Middle English relacion, relacioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman relacioun, from Old French relacion (“report, connection”), a learned borrowing, and directly borrowed from Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English sanguin, sangueyn, borrowed from Old French sanguin (feminine sanguine), from Latin sanguineus (“of blood, bloody, bloodthirsty”), from sanguis (“blood”)…

It is inherited from Middle English secret, borrowed from Old French secret (“concealed, private”), and directly borrowed from Latin sēcrētus (“set apart, withdrawn, hidden”), the past participle of…

It is inherited from Middle English substantif, borrowed from Old French substantif and directly borrowed from Late Latin substantīvus (“of substance or being, self-existent”), from substantia…

It is inherited from Middle English fillī, also spelled fyly, probably borrowed from Old Norse fylja, a feminine derivative of foli (“foal”). The OED, revised in 2023, gives the source more…

It is originally the Scots form of lord, and Chambers calls it the Scots and northern English form. It is inherited from Middle English laverd, also lard, northern and early forms of lord, inherited…

It is inherited from Middle English remitten, borrowed from Latin remittō (“to send back, slacken, let go, give up, forgive”), formed from re- (“back”) and mittō (“to send, let go”). The Latin verb…

1. The weight is a variant of tun, a cask, Middle English tonne, tunne; the two spellings were used for both the container and the measure until the senses were differentiated about 1688. The…

It is inherited from Middle English absteinen, also abstenen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman abstenir, also astenir, from its stressed stem absteign-, and directly borrowed from Latin abstineō (“to keep…

It is inherited from Middle English accomplisshen, borrowed from Old French acomplir (“to fulfil, fill up, complete”), from its lengthened stem acompliss-, from Vulgar Latin *accompleō, from Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English acte, borrowed from Old French acte and directly borrowed from Latin āctus (“a doing; a driving; a part in a play”) and āctum (“a thing done; a public…

It is inherited from Middle English ajusten, borrowed from Old French ajoster (“to add, assemble, calibrate”), ajuster, from Vulgar Latin *adjuxtō, to bring near, from Latin ad-, to, and juxtā…

It is inherited from Middle English administren, also aministren, borrowed from Old French aministrer, also administrer, and directly borrowed from Latin administrō (“to help, assist; to manage…