English words first recorded in the 14th century

The verb is inherited from Middle English declinen, borrowed from Old French decliner (“to turn aside, sink”), from Latin dēclīnō (“to bend, turn aside, inflect”), from dē- (“from”) and clīnō (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English degraden, also disgraden, borrowed from Old French degrader (“to deprive of rank or office”), also desgrader, and partly from Ecclesiastical Latin dēgradō (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English denouncen, also denounsen and denuncen, borrowed from Old French denoncier (“to proclaim, announce”), with the Anglo-Norman form denuncier, and directly borrowed…

It is inherited from Middle English descenden, earlier decenden, borrowed from Old French descendre, also Anglo-Norman decendre and desendre, and directly borrowed from Latin dēscendō (“to come…

The noun is inherited from Middle English despeir, borrowed from Anglo-Norman despeir, a variant of Old French despoir, itself formed from desperer (“to lose hope”). Barnhart suggests the French…

It is inherited from Middle English destinee, borrowed from Old French destinee (“purpose, intent, fate”), the feminine past participle of destiner, from Latin destinata, from dēstināre (“to make…

It is inherited from Middle English dinen, also dignen, borrowed from Old French disner, also diner, with an Anglo-Norman form deiner; the modern French verb is dîner. The French verb is traced to…

The verb is inherited from Middle English discomforten, borrowed from Anglo-Norman descunforter, also descomforter and Old French desconforter (“to discourage, dismay; to sadden”), and the noun is…

It is inherited from Middle English discoveren, borrowed from Old French descovrir (“to uncover, unveil, reveal”), from Late Latin discooperiō, from dis- (“opposite of”) and cooperiō (“to cover…

It is inherited from Middle English disguisen, also desgisen and degisen, borrowed from Old French desguisier, also deguisier and later desguiser, modern French déguiser. The Old French verb is…

It is inherited from Middle English dividen, borrowed from Latin dīvidere (“to force apart, cleave, distribute”), from dī-, a form of dis-, apart, and -videre, to separate, related to vidua…

It is formed from English down- + fall, on the model of the phrasal verb fall down; the Middle English form is dounfal. Etymonline takes the parts as the adverb and the verb rather than the prefix…

It is inherited from Middle English drift, not recorded in Old English. The OED treats it as a native Germanic noun of action from drīfan (“to drive”), formed like thrift from thrive or gift from…

It is inherited from Middle English examinour, borrowed from Anglo-Norman examinour, also examynur, and Old French examineur. The French word is recorded from the late 13th century for a person who…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin fa, the first syllable of Latin famuli (“servants”), the word sung to this note in the hymn for the feast of Saint John the Baptist (see gamut). It was used in Old…

It is inherited from Middle English faden, borrowed from Old French fader (“to weaken, wither”), from fade (“pale, weak, insipid”), probably from Vulgar Latin *fatidus, perhaps a blend of Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English fantasie, borrowed from Old French fantasie (“vision, imagination”), from Latin phantasia, from Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía, “appearance, image, perception…

It is inherited from Middle English feture, borrowed from Anglo-Norman feture, Old French faiture “deed, action; shape, form; countenance”, from Latin factūra (“a formation, a working”), from the…

1. The defect is inherited from Middle English flaue, also flai and flage, a flake or splinter, probably borrowed from Old Norse flaga (“slab of stone”). Barnhart and Merriam-Webster compare Swedish…

It is inherited from Middle English floute, also floite and fleute, borrowed from Old French flaüte, also fleüte and flahute, now flûte. The French word is probably from Old Occitan flaüt, itself of…

It is formed from English fore- + sight, first as inherited from Middle English forsight, also foresight. Barnhart suggests that it may come from the verb forsen (“to foresee”), and that it was…

It is inherited from Middle English forfet, also forfait, borrowed from Old French forfet, also forfait (“crime, punishable offence”), originally the past participle of forfaire (“to transgress”)…

It is inherited from Middle English gernet, also grenat and later garnet, borrowed from Old French grenat, also grenate and gernate, which was originally an adjective meaning dark red, red like a…

It is inherited from Middle English genealogie, also geneologi, borrowed from Old French genealogie, modern généalogie, from Late Latin geneālogia (“tracing of a family”), from Ancient Greek…

It is inherited from Middle English generacioun, borrowed from Old French generacion (“race, people; offspring; procreation”), and directly from Latin generātiō (“a generating, begetting”), from…

1. The breathing organ is inherited from Middle English gille, also gile, probably borrowed from Old Norse *gil, a form not recorded but deduced from the modern Scandinavian words. The OED takes it…

It is inherited from Middle English horer, orrour, borrowed from Old French orror, horreur, and directly from Latin horror (“a shaking, trembling; dread”), from horreō (“to bristle with fear…

It is inherited from Middle English enfourmen, informen, borrowed from Old French enformer (“to instruct, teach”), and directly borrowed from Latin infōrmāre (“to shape, give form to; to train…

It is formed from English in + let, the adverb and the verb, after the phrase let in. The noun is a special use of Middle English inlāte (“entrance, ingress”), from the verb inlēten (“to let in”)…

It is inherited from Middle English intervalle, early also enterwal, borrowed from Old French entreval (“interval, interim”), later intervalle, and in part directly borrowed from Latin intervallum…

It is inherited from Middle English jurour, borrowed from Anglo-Norman jurour, corresponding to Old French jureor (“one who swears”), modern French jureur, from Latin iūrātor (“swearer, sworn census…

It is inherited from Middle English kidenere, kideneye, kidenei, of unknown or obscure origin. The second element seems to be ey, egg (see egg), referring to the shape, and the plural kidneiren was…

1. The interjection is inherited from Middle English la, northern Middle English, inherited from Old English lā, a variant of lo. The SOED treats it as a natural exclamation. Klein calls it…

1. The verb meaning to make bright is inherited from Middle English lightenen, also lightnen and lihtenen, formed from English light (“bright”) + -en. Etymonline takes the noun as its base instead…

It is inherited from Middle English livere, also liverei and liveri, borrowed from Anglo-Norman liveré, also livereye and lyveree, beside livree, modern livrée. The French word is the noun use of…

It is inherited from Middle English lullen, probably imitative of the sounds “lu-lu” sung to put a child to sleep. Similar words are Swedish lulla (“to hum a lullaby”), Danish lulle and Norwegian…

1. The noun for a shapeless mass is inherited from Middle English lumpe, also lompe, of unknown origin. The MED thinks it was probably an Old English word, but Etymonline notes that it is not…

1. The club is inherited from Middle English mace, borrowed from Anglo-Norman mace, also masse, now masse, from Vulgar Latin *mattea, also *mattia, which is the source also of Italian mazza, Spanish…

It is inherited from Middle English malice, also malis and malece, borrowed from Anglo-Norman malice and Old French malice (“ill will, spite, wickedness”), from Latin malitia (“badness, ill will…

It is inherited from Middle English manslaughter, also manslaghter, formed from English man + slaughter. It gradually replaced the older manslaught, from Old English manslæht in Anglian and…

It is inherited from Middle English maunde, also maundie, borrowed from Anglo-Norman mandé, also mandet (from about 1120), and Old French mandé (1223), from Latin mandātum (“commandment, order”)…

It is inherited from Middle English middest, an alteration of middes, formed from mid and the adverbial genitive -s, evolved from the phrases in middes and on middes; Merriam-Webster and Collins…

It is inherited from Middle English mevable, also movable and moevable, borrowed from Anglo-Norman mevable, also movable, and Old French mouvable (“capable of moving or of being moved”) (early 12th…

The verb is inherited from Middle English mustren, also moustren and mostren, borrowed from Anglo-Norman mustrer, also monstrer and moustrer, and Middle French mostrer, moustrer, to show, display…

It is inherited from Middle English obeien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman obeir (in Old French also obeir, from the 12th century), from Latin oboediō (“to listen to, pay attention, obey”) (also…

It is inherited from Middle English obligen, also oblegen, borrowed from Anglo-Norman obliger, also oblijer, and obligier, from Latin obligō (“to bind by an oath or promise”), formed from ob- (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English occupien, borrowed from Old French occuper or directly Latin occupō (“to take over, seize, possess”), with an irregular ending, from ob- (“over”) and an intensive…

It is inherited from Middle English opinioun, borrowed from Old French opinion (“what one thinks, supposition, judgment, belief”), and directly borrowed from Latin opīniō (“opinion, conjecture…

It is inherited from Middle English outcast, also outkast and outicast, formed from Middle English out- + cast, the past participle of casten (“to throw, cast”), after the phrase “cast out”…

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman outrageus, which was also the Old French form (modern French outrageux), recorded in Old French from about 1165, and formed on outrage (“excess”) with the suffix…

1. It is borrowed from Old French pale (“pale, light-coloured”), paile, from Latin pallidus (“pale, wan”), from palleō, to be pale, from PIE Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“pale”). It is a doublet of…

It is inherited from Middle English pantrie, also panetrie, borrowed from Anglo-Norman panetrie, also panterie, a variant of Old French paneterie (“storeroom for bread”), recorded from 1292, and…

It is inherited from Middle English past, a variant of passed, the past participle of passen (“to go by”), the source of pass. Hoad explains that it grew out of perfect forms made with “to be”, as…

It is borrowed from Old French pincel (“artist's paintbrush”) (modern pinceau), from Vulgar Latin *pēnicellus, from Latin pēnicillus (“paintbrush”), literally “little tail”, a diminutive of…

It is inherited from Middle English pentis, pendize, altered by folk etymology through association with Middle French pente (“slope”) and English house. The Middle English word is borrowed from…

It is inherited from Middle English perpetuel, borrowed from Old French perpetuel (“without end”) and directly borrowed from Latin perpetuālis (“universal; permanent”), from perpetuus (“continuous…

It is inherited from Middle English plaintif, also playntyf and pleyntyff, borrowed from Anglo-Norman pleintif, also plaintif, the noun use of Old French plaintif (“complaining; wretched…

It is inherited from Middle English plater, also platter, borrowed from Anglo-Norman plater (“platter, broad shallow dish”), from Old French plat (“dish”), the adjective "flat" used as a noun. The…

It is inherited from Middle English polisen, polishen, borrowed from Old French poliss-, the lengthened stem of polir (“to polish, decorate”), from Latin poliō (“to polish, make smooth; to refine”)…

It is inherited from Middle English positif, borrowed from Old French positif (“laid down”) and directly borrowed from Latin positīvus (“settled by agreement, positive”), from positus, the past…