English words first recorded in the 14th century

It is inherited from Middle English steinen, borrowed from Old French desteindre (“to take the colour out of”), from its present stem desteign-, with the first syllable lost, as in distain, which…

It is inherited from Middle English subverten, borrowed from Old French subvertir (“to overthrow, destroy”) and directly borrowed from Latin subvertō (“to turn upside down, overturn, overthrow”)…

It is Middle English, from Old French supplement and directly borrowed from Latin supplēmentum (“that which fills up, something added to supply a deficiency”), from suppleō, to fill up, complete…

It is inherited from Middle English sillable, also silable and sillabil, borrowed from Anglo-Norman sillable, an alteration of Old French sillabe (12th century), modern French syllabe, from Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English testimonie, from Old Northern French testimonie and directly borrowed from Latin testimonium (“evidence, proof”), from testis (“a witness”) and the suffix -mōnium…

It is inherited from Middle English tramplen, also trampelen, formed from English tramp + -le as a frequentative verb. The OED calls it a frequentative "in form" and compares Middle High German…

It is inherited from Middle English transferren, borrowed from Old French transferer or directly from Latin trānsferō (“to bear across, carry over; to copy, translate”), from trāns- (“across”) and…

It is inherited from Middle English translatour, partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman translatour and translateur, and partly directly from Latin trānslātor, formed from trānslātus, the past participle…

It is inherited from Middle English tretee, borrowed from Anglo-Norman treté, from Old French traitié (“assembly, agreement, dealings”) (modern French traité), from Latin tractātus (“handling…

It is formed from English un- + chaste. The base is from Old French chaste (“morally pure”), from Latin castus (“clean, pure, morally pure”).

It is formed from English under- + cut, and is recorded first as Middle English undercutten (“to strike down”). The noun is from the prefix and the noun cut, partly also from the verb, and the…

It is inherited from Middle English underminen, formed from Middle English under- + mīnen (“to mine, dig”). The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford think the formation was probably…

It was formed in Middle English from understanden, that is from English understand + -able.

It is formed from English undertake + -er, Middle English undertaken with the agent suffix. The verb undertake is formed from under and take, on the model of undernimen according to the OED, and…

It is formed from English undertake + -ing, and the adjective comes from the same verb, with the present-participle ending. The verb is formed from under- and take, after the older undernim…

It is inherited from Middle English usable, borrowed from Middle French usable (“available, in use”), recorded in Old French from 1254, formed from user (“to employ, make use of”) and the suffix…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English venten, probably a shortening of aventen, borrowed from Old French aventer, a variant of esventer (“to let out, expose to the air”), from Vulgar Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English viole, a variant of fiole, the Middle English form of phial. Fiole is partly borrowed from Middle French fiole, from Medieval Latin phiola, and partly borrowed…

It is inherited from Middle English voluble, also volible, borrowed from Old French voluble or directly borrowed from Latin volūbilis (“rolling, turning; fluent”). The OED and Merriam-Webster allow…

It is inherited from Middle English volum, borrowed from Old French volume (“scroll, book; size”), and directly from Latin volūmen (“roll of writing, coil”), literally “that which is rolled”, from…

Most dictionaries take it as formed from Middle English waiten (“to wait”) + -er, from wait, which is from Anglo-Norman waitier (“to watch”). The OED instead derives the earliest uses from an…

It is inherited from Middle English zele, also zeel, borrowed from Old French zel and directly borrowed from Late Latin zēlus (“jealousy, rivalry, emulation; zeal”), a church word from Ancient Greek…

It is inherited from Middle English decresen, from Anglo-Norman decreiss-, the stem of decreistre, Old French descroistre (“to decrease”) (modern French décroître), from Vulgar Latin *discrēscō, for…

It is formed from English side + board, and was side-bord in Middle English. The OED takes side here as a noun and Etymonline as an adjective. The American Heritage Dictionary takes the sense "side…

It is inherited from Middle English benevolence, also benivolence, borrowed from Old French benivolence and directly borrowed from Latin benevolentia (“well-wishing, good will, kindness”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English cadence, borrowed from Old French cadence (“rhythm”), from Old Italian cadenza (“conclusion of a movement in music; literally a falling”), from Vulgar Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English capcioun (“seizure, arrest”), borrowed from Old French capcion (“arrest, capture, imprisonment”), from Latin captiō (“a catching, seizing, holding, taking”), a…

It is borrowed from Old French celestial (“celestial, heavenly, sky-blue”), also celestiel, from Latin caelestis (“heavenly, of the sky”), from caelum (“sky, heaven”). The Oxford dictionaries…

It is inherited from Middle English commemoracioun, borrowed from Old French comemoration, whose form Anglo-Norman commemoraciun is recorded from the late 13th century, and directly borrowed from…

It is inherited from Middle English condempnacioun, borrowed from Late Latin condemnātiō, a noun of action from condemnātus, the past participle of condemnō (“to sentence, to blame”). Dictionary.com…

It is inherited from Middle English congelen, also conjealen, borrowed from Old French congeler (“to freeze, thicken”), with the third person singular present congèle. Anglo-Norman records it from…

It is borrowed from Old French conjecture (“surmise, guess”) or directly borrowed from Latin coniectūra (“conclusion, interpretation, guess”), literally "a casting together" of facts, from…

It is inherited from Middle English conservatyf, borrowed from Old French conservatif, from Medieval Latin conservātīvus, from Latin conservatus, past participle of cōnservō (“to keep, preserve…

It is borrowed from Middle French contemptible (“deserving of contempt”) and directly borrowed from Latin contemptibilis (“deserving of contempt, worthless”), formed from contemptus, the past…

It is inherited from Middle English contencioun, borrowed from Old French contencion, and directly Latin contentiō (“a vigorous struggle, contest”), a noun of action from the past participle of…

It is inherited from Middle English copious, borrowed from Latin cōpiōsus (“plentiful, well supplied”), from cōpia (“plenty, abundance”), which Klein and Skeat explain as a contraction of a compound…

The earliest form, inherited from Middle English cucumer, used in the Wycliffite Bible, is apparently borrowed from Latin cucumis (“cucumber”). The forms with b, cocumber and cucumber, appeared in…

It is inherited from Middle English different, borrowed from Old French different, from Latin differēns (“differing”) (stem different-), the present participle of differō (“to carry apart; to be…

It is inherited from Middle English dispersioun, borrowed from Old French dispersion, recorded in French from the 13th century, or directly borrowed from Latin dispersiō (“a scattering”). The Latin…

Its origin is uncertain. Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary take it as probably inherited from Middle English hebenyf (“ebony wood”) in altered form, a word recorded in the…

It is formed from English en- + lighten, with the early forms inlighten and enlightenen. The OED, which revised the entry in 2010, takes it partly as an alteration of the earlier verb enlight after…

It is inherited from Middle English exhortacioun, borrowed from Old French exhortacion and directly borrowed from Latin exhortātiō (“an exhortation, encouragement”), from exhortor (“to exhort…

It is inherited from Middle English existence, borrowed from Old French existence, from Medieval Latin existentia, exsistentia “the state of having being”, from existēns, present participle of Latin…

It is a Middle English formation, inherited from Middle English filthi, from English filth + -y, the adjective suffix.

It is inherited from Middle English findere, formed from English find + -er. The OED compares an agent noun Old English findend, formed with a different suffix. Find is from Old English findan (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English hissen, of imitative origin. The OED notes that it is not recorded before the end of the 14th century nor in the earlier stages of any Germanic language, and that…

It is inherited from Middle English inquisicioun, borrowed from Old French inquisicion, also inquisition, and directly borrowed from Latin inquīsītiō (“a searching into, examination, legal…

It is inherited from Middle English interpretour, borrowed from Anglo-Norman interpretour (“translator”), the Anglo-Norman form of Old French interpreteur, also entrepreteur, from Late Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English invocacioun, borrowed from Old French invocacion (“appeal, invocation”), recorded in French from the 12th century, and directly borrowed from Latin invocātiō (“a…

It is inherited from Middle English justificacioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman justificacioun and justification, and also directly from Late Latin iūstificātiō, a noun of action formed on the past…

It is inherited from Middle English lese, borrowed from Anglo-Norman les (“a letting”), Old French lais, leis, a verbal noun from laissier (“to let, leave”), from Latin laxāre (“to loosen”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English lies, the plural of lie, whose singular later became the obsolete lee, borrowed from Old French lie (“sediment, dregs”). In Anglo-Norman the noun is recorded from…

It is inherited from Middle English littour, borrowed from Latin lictor, the Latin spelling being restored in the 16th century. The origin of the Latin word is not settled: Hoad calls it unknown…

It is formed from English mad + -ness, first as Middle English maddnesse. The adjective mad is from Old English gemædde (“out of one's mind”), the past participle of a lost verb *gemædan (“to make…

It is inherited from Middle English mediatour, either borrowed from Anglo-Norman mediatur, also mediatour, and mediateur, or from their source, borrowed from Latin mediātor (“one who mediates”)…

It is inherited from Middle English medicinal, also medecinal, partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman medicinal (“healing, curative”), also Middle French medecinal (modern French médicinal), and partly…

It is formed from English mountain + -ous, partly after French montagneux, recorded in Old French as montaigneux from the 13th century. Klein derives the English word from the French one, from…

It is inherited from Middle English napekin, nappekin, formed from nape (“tablecloth”), from Old French nape, nappe (“tablecloth, cloth, towel”), from Latin mappa (“napkin, small cloth”) (see map)…

It is inherited from Middle English novelte, borrowed from Anglo-Norman novelté, formed from novel (“new”) and the suffix -té, the source of English -ty. The word is recorded in Old French from…

It is inherited from Middle English persuasioun, also persuacioun, borrowed from Middle French persuasion and directly borrowed from Latin persuāsiō (“act of persuading; conviction”). The Latin noun…