English words first recorded in the 14th century

It is inherited from Middle English philosophre, also philosopher and filosofre, borrowed from Anglo-Norman filosofre, also philosophre, a variant of Old French philosophe, from Latin philosophus…

1. The note is inherited from Middle English bylet, borrowed from Anglo-Norman billette (“list, schedule”), a diminutive of bille (“written statement”), the source of bill “document”. Barnhart and…

1. The brooch is inherited from Middle English ouche, a form of nouche, borrowed from Anglo-Norman nouche, also nusche, with its Old French counterpart nosche, also noche and nouche. The initial n-…

It is inherited from Middle English seccioun, borrowed from Middle French section or directly borrowed from Latin sectiō (“a cutting, cutting off, division”) (accusative sectiōnem), from sectus, the…

It is inherited from Middle English araien, arraien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman arayer, from Old French areer, to put in order, from Vulgar Latin *arredō, from Latin ad-, to, and a Frankish *rēd-…

It is inherited from Middle English benigne, also beningne, borrowed from Old French benigne (“kind, merciful, gracious”), the feminine beside the masculine benin, now bénin, feminine bénigne. The…

It is inherited from Middle English carien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman carier (“to transport in a vehicle”), also Old Northern French carier, a variant of Old French charier (modern charrier “to…

It is inherited from Middle English cherishen, also cherisen and chersen, borrowed from Old French cheriss-, the extended stem of cherir (“to hold dear”) (modern French chérir), from chier (“dear”)…

It is inherited from Middle English constellacioun, also constillacioun, borrowed from Old French constellation, and directly borrowed from Late Latin cōnstēllātiō (“a collection of stars”). The…

It is inherited from Middle English flappen, with the noun flappe (“a blow, slap”), probably imitative of the sound of striking, like clap, slap and flack. Similar words are Dutch flappen (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English emprowement, borrowed from Anglo-Norman emprowement, from emprouwer “to turn to profit”, the source of improve, based on Old French prou “profit”, ultimately from…

It is inherited from Middle English pacient, borrowed from Old French pacient, and directly from Latin patiēns (“bearing, suffering, enduring”), present participle of patior (“to suffer”). The noun…

It came into Middle English as veluet, velvet, borrowed from Old French veluotte, a noun formed on velu (“velvety, shaggy”), from Medieval Latin villūtus (“shaggy”), from Latin villus (“shaggy hair…

It is inherited from Middle English wrappen, of uncertain origin. MWU compares Danish dialect vravle, to twist together, and Greek ῥάπτω (rháptein, “to sew”); Etymonline gives Watkins's derivation…

It is inherited from Middle English maintenaunce, borrowed from Old French maintenance (“upkeep; shelter, protection”), from maintenir “to keep, sustain”, the source of maintain, and the suffix -ance.

1. The word for the barge is inherited from Middle English kele, apparently borrowed from Middle Dutch kiel (“ship, boat”), also Middle Low German kēl. The Middle Dutch word goes back to…

It is inherited from Middle English chisel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman chisel, the Old North French form corresponding to Old French cisel (modern French ciseau), from Vulgar Latin *cīsellum, an…

1. The hurdle is inherited from Middle English fleke, also flake and fleike, probably borrowed from Old Norse flaki, also fleki (“hurdle, wicker shield”); the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford…

It is a variant of Middle English patroun, patron, borrowed from Old French patron (“patron, protector; model, pattern”), from Medieval Latin patrōnus, from Latin patrōnus “protector of clients…

It is inherited from Middle English scope, borrowed from Middle Dutch schōpe, also schoepe, a vessel for bailing out water or the bucket of a waterwheel, or the Middle Low German schōpe of the same…

It is inherited from Middle English wilde cat, formed from Middle English wilde (“wild”) + cat (“cat”); Dictionary.com compares Middle Low German wildkatte. The adjective is from Old English wilde…

It is inherited from Middle English acheven, borrowed from Old French achever (“to finish, accomplish, complete”) (12th century), from the phrase à chef (venir) “to come to a head, to an end”, or…

It is inherited from Middle English adressen, borrowed from Old French adrecier (“to go straight toward; to straighten, set right; to direct”) (modern adresser), from Vulgar Latin *addīrēctiō (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English adournen, also adornen, which replaced earlier aournen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman aurner, also aourner, with the d restored after Latin adōrnō (“to get ready…

It is inherited from Middle English avauncement, borrowed from Anglo-Norman avauncement, from Old French avancement (“progress, profit, promotion”), formed from avancier (“to move forward”) and…

It is inherited from Middle English affermen, also affirmen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman afermer, also affermer, and Old French afermer, from Latin affirmō (“to strengthen, confirm, assert”). The OED…

It is formed from English a- + loud in Middle English, with a- in its sense "on", expressing manner, as in abroad. Etymonline takes it as a contraction of on loude, and the OED thinks it perhaps…

It is a compound, from English all + though, at first written separately, al thagh, with all in its once common emphatic use. Hoad compares the same use of all in albeit.

It is inherited from Middle English ambiguite, borrowed from Anglo-Norman ambiguité, also ambeguité, and directly borrowed from Latin ambiguitās (“double meaning, equivocalness”), from ambiguus…

It is inherited from Middle English apart, borrowed from Old French a part (“to the side”), from Latin ad (“to”) and partem, accusative of pars (“part, side”), from Proto-Indo-European *pere- (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English attachen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman attacher (“to fasten; to seize by law”), a form of atachier, with influence from attachiare (“to bind a person to appear in…

It is inherited from Middle English avoiden, borrowed from Anglo-Norman avoider (“to clear out, withdraw oneself”), a variant of Old French esvuidier “to empty out”, from es- (“out”), from Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English barere, barrer, borrowed from Anglo-Norman barrere, Old French barriere (“obstacle, gatekeeper”), from barre (“bar”) (see bar). NODE calls the French word of…

It is inherited from Middle English bilooghe, formed from Middle English bi- (“by, about”) + looghe (“low”), that is, be- and low. It apparently began as a variant of the earlier a-lowe, the…

It is borrowed from Old Norse blanda (“to mix”), together with Old English blondan (“to mix”), blandan, cognate with Old High German blantan and Gothic 𐌱𐌻𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (blandan). Its e may come from…

1. It is inherited from Middle English bote, borrowed from Old French bote (modern French botte), corresponding to Occitan, Spanish and Portuguese bota, of unknown origin, perhaps Germanic. SOED…

It is inherited from Middle English bran, also bren and brin, borrowed from Old French bren, also bran, recorded in Anglo-Norman from the early 13th century for bran and for scurf or scales on the…

It is inherited from Middle English bobel, perhaps from Middle Dutch bobbel and Middle Low German bubbeln, to bubble, all probably imitative. NODE and SOED take it as partly imitative and partly an…

It is formed from English build + -ing. Middle English bilding, also byldinge, was the verbal noun of bilden (“to build”). Old English had a similar noun, bytlung, from bytlian (“to build”). Build…

It is inherited from Middle English bunche, of uncertain origin. Barnhart and Etymonline derive it from Old French (Walloon) bonge “bundle”, a nasalized form of bouge, from Flemish bondje “little…

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman bocher, a variant of bouchier (“a slaughterer of animals; an executioner”), formed on bouc (“he-goat”) with the suffix that became -er, so originally apparently a…

It is inherited from Middle English carpenter, borrowed from Anglo-Norman carpenter and carpentier, the Old North French form of charpentier, from Late Latin carpentārius, originally an adjective in…

It is inherited from Middle English changere, also chaunger, partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman changeour, also chaungeour and chaungeur, and partly formed from English change + -er; Merriam-Webster…

1. The verb meaning to crack is inherited from Middle English chappen, of uncertain origin. The MED takes it as probably a variant of choppen, the source of chop, and Barnhart and Etymonline suggest…

It is inherited from Middle English citacioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman citacioun and citation, and partly also from Latin citātiō (“a summons”), a noun of action formed on the past participle of…

It is inherited from Middle English clarifien, borrowed from Old French clarifier, from Late Latin clārificō (“to make clear; to glorify”), from clārificus (“brilliant”), from clārus (“clear”) (see…

It is inherited from Middle English claspe, also clapse, a word whose origin most dictionaries call unknown. The OED notes that the two forms alternate from the start, with nothing to show which is…

It is borrowed from Old French compas (“measure; circle; pair of compasses”) (12th century), from compasser (“to measure, go round, divide equally; to devise”), which also gave the English verb…

It is inherited from Middle English compilen, borrowed from Old French compiler (“to put together, collect”), and probably also directly borrowed from Latin compīlō (“to plunder, rob, pillage”). The…

It is inherited from Middle English concelen, also conselen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman conceler (“to keep secret; to hide”), also written cunceler and conseler, and partly directly borrowed from…

It is inherited from Middle English concluden, borrowed from Latin conclūdō (“to shut up, enclose, end”), from com- (“completely, together”) and claudō (“to shut”) (see close).

It is inherited from Middle English condempnen, also condemnen and condampnen, borrowed from Old French condemner, also condempner, and directly from Latin condemnō (“to sentence, convict, blame”)…

It is inherited from Middle English continuel, also continual, borrowed from Old French continuel, recorded in Old French from the 12th century and in Anglo-Norman from about 1136–65. The French…

It is inherited from Middle English kore, probably borrowed from Old French cuer (“core of fruit, heart of a vegetable; heart”) (coeur), from Latin cor (“heart”), from Proto-Indo-European *kerd-…

It is inherited from Middle English coughen, kouwen, probably from an unrecorded Old English *cohhian, of which cohhettan (“to bluster”) is a frequentative, of imitative origin, and akin to Middle…

1. The insect is inherited from Middle English criket, borrowed from Old French criquet (“cricket, grasshopper”), from criquer (“to creak, rattle, crackle”), of imitative origin. Dutch krekel and…

It is inherited from Middle English cruste, also crouste, borrowed from Old French crouste, modern croûte, with the Anglo-Norman form cruste from about 1240, or in some senses directly borrowed from…

Most dictionaries take the adjective as inherited from Middle English conning, also cunning and the northern connand, formed from Middle English connen (“to know”) + -ing, the present participle of…

1. It is probably borrowed from Old Norse dammr or Middle Dutch dam, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz, source also of Old Frisian damm and German Damm, of unknown origin. It is perhaps also from or…

It is inherited from Middle English declaren, from Old French declarer, to explain, or directly borrowed from Latin dēclārō (“to make clear, reveal, announce”), from dē-, here intensive, and clārō…