English words first recorded in the 14th century

It is inherited from Middle English corrupcioun, borrowed from Old French corruption, from Latin corruptiō (“a spoiling, seducing; a corrupt condition”), a noun of action from the past participle of…

It is inherited from Middle English couche, borrowed from Old French couche (“a bed, lair”), earlier culche, from couchier (“to lay down, put to bed”), from Latin collocāre (“to place together, put…

It is inherited from Middle English curious, borrowed from Old French curios and directly from Latin cūriōsus (“careful, diligent; inquisitive”), from cūra “care”. It is related to cure, curate and…

It is inherited from Middle English declaracioun, borrowed from Middle French declaration and directly Latin dēclārātiō (“a making clear, disclosure”), from the past participle stem of dēclārāre…

It is inherited from Middle English descripcioun, borrowed from Old French description and directly from Latin dēscrīptiō (“representation, description, copy”) (accusative dēscrīptiōnem), a noun of…

It is inherited from Middle English difference, borrowed from Old French difference (“difference, distinction; argument, dispute”) and directly borrowed from Latin differentia (“diversity…

1. The quality is inherited from Middle English diligence, also deligence, borrowed from Old French diligence (“attention, care; haste, speed”), also Anglo-Norman diligence (from about 1270), and…

It is inherited from Middle English diligent, also deligent, borrowed from Old French diligent and directly borrowed from Latin dīligēns (“attentive, assiduous, careful”), the present participle of…

It is inherited from Middle English discussen, from Latin discussus, the past participle of discutiō (“to dash to pieces, strike or shake apart”), in Late and Medieval Latin “to discuss, examine…

It is inherited from Middle English discussioun, borrowed from Old French discussion (“discussion, examination, legal trial”) and directly from Late Latin discussiō (“examination, investigation”)…

It is inherited from Middle English disposen, borrowed from Old French disposer (“to arrange, order, regulate”), formed from dis- and poser (“to place”). It took the place of despondre, the…

It is inherited from Middle English distracten, borrowed from Latin distractus, the past participle of distrahō (“to draw in different directions, pull apart”), formed from dis- (“apart, away”) and…

It is inherited from Middle English diversite, borrowed from Old French diversité (“difference, diversity; oddness; wickedness”), from Latin dīversitās (“contrariety, disagreement; difference”)…

It is inherited from Middle English drunke, also dronke, a shortening of the past participle drunken, inherited from Old English druncen, past participle of drincan (“to drink”). It continues…

It is inherited from Middle English ecko, eccho, borrowed from Old French echo and Latin ēchō, from Greek ἠχώ (ēkhṓ, “echo”), from or related to ἠχή (ēkhḗ, “sound”) and ἠχέω (ēkhéō), to resound…

1. It is inherited from Middle English egge, a northern word borrowed from Old Norse egg, from Proto-Germanic *ajja(m), probably from Proto-Indo-European *ōwyóm, the source also of Latin ōvum and…

It is inherited from Middle English enduren, borrowed from Old French endurer (“to harden; to bear”), from Latin indūrō (“to make hard”), formed from Latin in- + dūrō (“to harden, last”), from dūrus…

It is inherited from Middle English essencial, borrowed from Late Latin essentiālis, from Latin essentia (“being, essence”), an abstract noun formed to translate Greek ousia “being”, from essent-…

It is inherited from Middle English exciten, borrowed from Old French exciter, also esciter, or directly borrowed from Latin excitō (“to rouse, call forth, produce”), a frequentative of excieō (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English exercise, borrowed from Old French exercice (“exercise, execution of power; physical or spiritual exercise”), from Latin exercitium (“training, physical…

It is inherited from Middle English extorcioun, also extorsioun, borrowed from extorsion and directly borrowed from Latin extortiō, a Late Latin noun of action meaning torture or a twisting out…

It is inherited from Middle English familier, borrowed from Old French familier (“related; friendly”), from Latin familiāris (“of a household, domestic; intimate, friendly”), a dissimilation of…

It is borrowed from Old French flair (“odour, scent”), from flairier (“to give off an odour; to smell”), modern flairer, from Vulgar Latin *flāgrō, a dissimilated form of Latin frāgrō (“to give off…

It is inherited from Middle English garment, a reduced form of garnement, borrowed from Old French garnement (“equipment, armour, vestments, attire”), also garniment, from garnir (“to equip, fit…

It is inherited from Middle English garth, borrowed from Old Norse garðr (“yard, courtyard, fence”), which is cognate with Old English geard (“fenced enclosure”), the source of yard. The OED…

It is formed from English give + -er, Middle English giver, also givere. The OED compares Old High German kebari (German Geber), Middle Dutch gevere, Dutch gever and Danish giver. Old English had…

It is inherited from Middle English gracious, also graceux, gracos and gratius, borrowed from Anglo-Norman gracius and Old French gracios, later gracieux, and partly directly from Latin grātiōsus…

It is inherited from Middle English honourable (also honorable), borrowed from Old French honorable (also onorable, honurable), and partly directly from Latin honōrābilis (“that brings honour…

It is Middle English humour, borrowed from Old French humor (“liquid, dampness; a bodily humour”), umor, from Latin umor (“body fluid, moisture”), also spelled humor by a fancied connection with…

It is inherited from Middle English illuminacioun, borrowed from Middle French illumination, recorded in the 14th century in Oresme, and directly borrowed from Late Latin illūminātiō (“spiritual…

It is inherited from Middle English illusioun, borrowed from Old French illusion (“a mocking, deceit”), from Latin illūsiō (“a mocking, jesting, irony”), from illūdō (“to mock at”), literally “to…

It is inherited from Middle English imaginacioun, borrowed from Old French imaginacion (“concept, mental picture”), from Latin imāginātio (“imagination, a fancy”), from imāginārī (“to picture to…

It is inherited from Middle English ymagynen, imaginen, borrowed from Old French imaginer (“to sculpt, carve, paint, decorate”), a learned borrowing from Latin imāginor (“I picture to myself…

It is inherited from Middle English immortalite, borrowed from Old French immortalité, and directly borrowed from Latin immortālitās (“deathlessness, endless life; imperishable fame”), formed from…

It is inherited from Middle English empeirement, also emparement, borrowed from Anglo-Norman empeirement, also empairement, recorded in Anglo-Norman from the 12th century. It is formed from…

It is borrowed from Latin incomprehēnsibilis (“that cannot be seized or grasped”), formed from in- (“not”) and comprehēnsibilis (“comprehensible”), from comprehendō (“to seize, grasp; to…

It is inherited from Middle English inflacioun, borrowed from Latin inflatio (“a puffing up, a blowing into, flatulence”), from the past participle stem of inflāre (“to blow into, puff up”) (see…

It is inherited from Middle English enheriten, also inheriten, borrowed from Old French enheriter (“to make heir, appoint as heir”), from Late Latin inhērēditō (“to appoint as heir”), formed from…

It is borrowed from Old French innocence (“innocence; purity, chastity”), recorded in French from the 12th century, from Latin innocentia (“blamelessness, harmlessness”), from innocēns (“harmless…

It is inherited from Middle English innocent, borrowed from Old French innocent and directly from Latin innocēns (“not guilty, harmless”), from in- “not” and nocēns, present participle of noceō “to…

It is borrowed from Old French enspirer (13th century), from Latin īnspīrō (“to blow into, breathe upon”), figuratively to inspire, inflame, from in-, in, and spīrō, to breathe (see spirit)…

It is inherited from Middle English instaunce, borrowed from Old French instance (“effort; urgency, eagerness, anxiety”) (13th century), from Latin instantia (“presence; earnestness, urgency”)…

It is inherited from Middle English entencioun, intencioun, borrowed from Old French entencion (“intent, purpose; will; thought”) (modern French intention), from Latin intentiō (“a stretching out…

It is Middle English, borrowed from Old French invisible and directly Latin invisibilis (“unseen, not visible”), from in-, not, and visibilis (see visible).

It is inherited from Middle English cale, also cal, the northern form of cole, cabbage. According to the OED, the Middle English forms are either inherited from Old English cāl, contracted from…

It is inherited from Middle English legende, borrowed from Old French legende and directly from Medieval Latin legenda (“things to be read”), the neuter plural gerundive of Latin legō “to read…

It is inherited from Middle English level (also livel), borrowed from Old French livel, from Vulgar Latin *lībellum, an alteration of Latin lībella (“balance, level, plummet line”), a diminutive of…

It is an agent noun from lose and -er.

It is inherited from Middle English luxurie, borrowed from Old French luxurie (“debauchery, lust”) (modern French luxure), from Latin luxuria (“excess, extravagant living”), from luxus (“excess…

It is inherited from Middle English mansioun, borrowed from Old French mansion (“stay, abode, house”) and directly from Latin mānsiō, mānsiōnem, a staying, night quarters, station, from mānsus, past…

It is inherited from Middle English materiel, material, borrowed from Old French materiel, material, and directly borrowed from Late Latin māteriālis (“of or belonging to matter”), from Latin…

It is inherited from Middle English moment, borrowed from Old French moment (“moment, minute; importance, weight”), or directly from Latin mōmentum (“movement, moving power; importance; moment of…

It is inherited from Middle English moral, borrowed from Old French moral and directly from Latin mōrālis (“relating to manners or customs”), from mōs, mōris “disposition, custom”, plural mōrēs…

It has more than one source: it is partly formed within English as murder with the suffix -er, and partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman murdreour, mordreour, from Old French mordrir (“to murder”) with…

It is inherited from Middle English mirki, formed from Middle English mirk + -i, from the noun murk, later with the English suffix -y. The noun is from Old Norse myrkr (“darkness”), itself formed…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English musen, borrowed from Old French muser (“to ponder, dream; to loiter, waste time”), of uncertain origin. It is usually explained as “to stand with one's…

It is inherited from Middle English necessarie, borrowed from Anglo-Norman necessarie, Old French necessaire, and directly borrowed from Latin necessārius (“unavoidable, indispensable”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English negligence, also necgligens and necligence, borrowed from Anglo-Norman negligence, also neccligence and necligence, and negligentia (“lack of care…

It is inherited from Middle English notabile, later notable, borrowed from Old French notable (“well-known, remarkable”) and directly from Latin notābilis, noteworthy, extraordinary, from notō, to…

It is inherited from Middle English novice, also novis and novece, borrowed from Old French novice, also novisse, from Medieval Latin novicius (“a probationer in a religious order”), a noun use of…