English words first recorded in the 14th century

It is borrowed from Old French toster (“to roast, grill”), from Vulgar Latin *tostō, a frequentative of Latin torreō, to parch (past participle tostus; see thirst and torrid).

It is inherited from Middle English tortuce, also tortu and tortuse, partly borrowed from Medieval Latin tortūca and partly borrowed from Old French tortue; the American Heritage Dictionary names…

1. The stretch of land is borrowed from Latin tractus (“a drawing out, course, extent, region, space of time”), a noun formed from the past participial stem of trahō (“to draw, pull, drag”), with…

It is inherited from Middle English turkeis, also turkois and torcas, borrowed from Old French turqueise, short for pierre turqueise (“Turkish stone”), the feminine of turqueis (“Turkish”), from…

It is borrowed from Latin uterus (“womb, belly”). Etymonline and Barnhart trace it to Proto-Indo-European *udero- (“abdomen, womb, stomach”), the source also of Sanskrit उदर (udára, “belly”)…

It is borrowed from Old French vegetable (“living, fit to live”) and directly Medieval Latin vegetābilis (“growing, flourishing”), in Late Latin “animating, enlivening”, from Latin vegetō (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English vertual, borrowed from Medieval Latin virtuālis, from virtūs (“excellence, potency, efficacy”), literally “manliness” (see virtue), suggested by Late Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English weghti, also spelled weighti and wighti, formed from English weight + -y. The noun goes back to Old English wiht, from Proto-Germanic *wihti-, and is from the…

It is inherited from Middle English adherent, also aderent, adherand and aherdaunt, borrowed from Middle French adherent, modern adhérent, which is from Latin adhaerēns (“sticking to”), the present…

It is inherited from Middle English alligeaunce, also aligeaunce and alegeaunce, borrowed from Anglo-Norman alleggeance, also aligeance and alegaunce, an alteration of ligeance, from Old French lige…

It is inherited from Middle English cancellen, from Anglo-Norman canceler, borrowed from Old French canceller (“to cross out”), or directly borrowed from Latin cancellāre (“to make like a lattice…

The noun is inherited from Middle English cressaunt, also cressant, borrowed from Anglo-Norman cressaunt, a variant of Old French creissant (modern French croissant), the noun use of the present…

It is inherited from Middle English deposicioun, borrowed from Old French deposicion, and directly borrowed from Latin dēpositiō (“a laying down, putting aside; testimony; burial”), a noun of action…

It is inherited from Middle English plume, borrowed from Old French plume (“soft feather, down”), also Anglo-Norman plume, and directly borrowed from Latin plūma (“small soft feather, down”). The…

It is inherited from Middle English salat, salade, borrowed from Old French salade and Medieval Latin *salata, from Occitan salada, from Vulgar Latin *salāta, salted, short for herba salata, salted…

It is borrowed from Old French accessible and directly borrowed from Late Latin accessibilis, from Latin accessus (“an approach, entrance”), from accēdere (“to approach, come near”) (see accede).

It is inherited from Middle English accountable, borrowed from Anglo-Norman acomptable, from acunter (“to account”) and -able (see account and -able).

It is inherited from Middle English acusatif, also accusatif, borrowed from Anglo-Norman acusatyf, also accusatif, and directly borrowed from Latin accūsātīvus, short for cāsus accūsātīvus, the case…

It is inherited from Middle English actyvete (“active life”), borrowed from Old French activité (“power of acting”), from Medieval Latin āctīvitās (“activity”) (accusative āctīvitātem), a word of…

It is borrowed from Middle French admirer, a Latinized correction of earlier amirer, or directly from Latin admīror, to regard with wonder, be astonished, from ad-, at, and mīror, to wonder (see…

It is inherited from Middle English aggregat, borrowed from Latin aggregātus (“associated, united”), the past participle of aggregō (“to add to a flock, bring together”), from ad- (“to”) and grex…

It is probably formed from English ah + ha, though the OED also allows that it may be a doubled form of ha or simply a natural cry. The Middle English Dictionary records it as aha, also written “a…

The verb is inherited from Middle English aiden, borrowed from Old French aidier (“to help, assist”), from Latin adiūtō, frequentative of adiuvō (“to give help to”), from ad (“to”) and iuvō (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English alkaly, borrowed from Medieval Latin alkali, also alcali, from Arabic اَلْقِلْي (al-qily, “the ashes (of saltwort), soda ash, potash”), which is the Arabic…

It is inherited from Middle English annichilat, also adnichilat, first a past participle used as an adjective, borrowed from Late Latin annihilātus (“reduced to nothing”), from annihilō (“to reduce…

It is inherited from Middle English antecedent, borrowed from Anglo-Norman antecedent and Middle French antecedent, and directly borrowed from Latin antecēdēns (“what goes before; preceding”), the…

It is a compound, from English any + one, written separately in Middle English, as any on or eny on. Old English used ǣnigmon (“any man”) in the same sense.

It is inherited from Middle English apperaunce, an alteration under the influence of apperen “to appear” of apparaunce, borrowed from Anglo-Norman apparaunce, Old French aparance “appearance…

It is inherited from Middle English arbitrarie, perhaps through Old French arbitraire, from Latin arbitrārius (“of arbitration, not fixed by law”), from arbiter (“judge, umpire”) (see arbiter).

It is inherited from Middle English aspiren, borrowed from Old French aspirer (“to aspire to; to inspire; to breathe”), or directly borrowed from Latin aspīrō (“to breathe upon; to seek to reach”)…

It is inherited from Middle English assistent, borrowed from Latin assistēns (“standing by, attending”) (accusative assistentem), present participle of assistō (“to stand by, attend”), from ad-…

1. The suffix of adjectives and verbs is inherited from Middle English -at, with verbs in -aten, borrowed from Latin -ātus, feminine -āta, neuter -ātum, the past participle ending of…

It is inherited from Middle English attraccioun, borrowed from Old French atraccion and directly Latin attractio (“a drawing together”), from the past participle stem of attrahere (“to draw, pull”)…

It is inherited from Middle English attricioun, partly borrowed from Middle French attricion and partly borrowed from Late Latin attrītiō (“a rubbing against”), from attrītus, the past participle of…

It is inherited from Middle English augmenten, also aumenten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman augmenter and Middle French augmenter, rarely aumenter, and directly borrowed from Late Latin augmentō (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English averten, borrowed from Old French avertir (“to turn, direct; to make aware”), and directly borrowed from Latin āvertō (“to turn away or aside”), formed from ab-…

It is borrowed from Latin barbarus (“strange, foreign, barbarous”), from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “non-Greek, foreign”), with the English suffix -ous. The Greek word probably referred first…

1. The fish is Middle English bace, base, an alteration of dialectal barse, inherited from Old English bærs (“perch”), cognate with Middle High German bars and Dutch baars, from Proto-Germanic…

It is formed from English begin + -er, as an agent noun from the Middle English verb beginnen. begin is from Old English beginnan, formed from be- and Proto-West Germanic *ginnan, a verb of obscure…

It is formed from English bird + lime. Its Middle English forms include birdlim, bridlim and brydelyme. Bird is from Old English bridd (“young bird, nestling”), also bird, of uncertain origin and…

It is imitative: the OED, as quoted by Etymonline, calls it a combination of sounds especially fitted to make a loud, startling noise, and compares Latin boō (“to cry aloud”) and Ancient Greek βοάω…

1. The verb for begging and carrying is of uncertain origin. Most dictionaries take the senses of carrying and begging as a back-formation from English from cadger, at first an itinerant dealer or…

It is borrowed from Latin callōsus (“hard-skinned, tough”), which Barnhart, Hoad and Merriam-Webster say was partly borrowed from Middle French calleux; the American Heritage Dictionary gives Old…

It is Middle English canon, borrowed from Anglo-Norman canon (“tube for projectiles”), Old French canon, from Italian cannone (“large tube, barrel”), an augmentative of canna, tube, from Latin…

It is a way of writing can not as one word, from Middle English. Old English expressed the idea with ne cunnan.

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin canonicālis, from Late Latin canonicus (“according to rule; in Church Latin, belonging to the canon”), from Latin canōn (“measuring line, rule”), from Ancient…

It is inherited from Middle English capacite, borrowed from Middle French capacité (“ability to hold”), from Latin capācitās (“breadth; capability of holding much”) (accusative capācitātem), from…

It is inherited from Middle English captivite, also captiviti, borrowed from Latin captīvitās, with the Middle English form of the suffix -ity. Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com take it through…

It is inherited from Middle English carnal, also carnel and charnel, borrowed from Late Latin carnālis (“of the flesh, fleshly”), a word of Tertullian and other Christian writers, which…

It is inherited from Middle English caccher, formed from Middle English cacchen (“to catch”) + -er, the agent noun of catch. The MED instead derives it from Anglo-Norman cachëour, comparing Central…

It is inherited from Middle English caustik, borrowed from Latin causticus (“burning, corrosive”), from Ancient Greek καυστικός (kaustikós, “capable of burning”), from καυστός (kaustós, “burnt…

It is inherited from Middle English cessacioun, borrowed from Old French cessation and directly borrowed from Latin cessātiō (“a delaying, idling, ceasing”), a noun of action from cessātus, past…

It is inherited from Middle English champayne, also champaigne, borrowed from Old French champaigne (“open country”), from Late Latin campānia (“level country”), the noun use of the feminine…

1. The letter name is borrowed from Ancient Greek χῖ (khî), earlier χεῖ (kheî). It stood for a kh sound (see ch), and its X shape made the name a sign of things placed crosswise, as in χίασμα…

It is borrowed from Latin citrus, which in classical Latin named an African tree, probably the cypress Tetraclinis articulata, and in post-classical Latin from the 5th century also the citron tree…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin commentarius (“notebook, annotation; diary, memoir”), also commentarium, a noun use of the adjective, perhaps short for volumen commentarium, from commentārī (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English composen, also compousen, borrowed from Old French composer (“to put together, arrange; to write”), recorded in French from the 12th century. The Anglo-Norman…

It is borrowed from Old French composite, from Latin compositus (“placed together”), the past participle of compōnō (“to put together, arrange”), from com- (“together”) and pōnō (“to put, place”)…

It is borrowed from Old French compression, and partly a direct borrowing of Latin compressiō (“a pressing together”), a noun of action formed on compressus, the past participle of comprimō (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English concussioun, borrowed from Latin concussiō (“a shaking, an earthquake”), a noun of action from concussus, the past participle of concutiō (“to strike together…