English words first recorded in the 15th century

It is Scots golf, gouf, probably an alteration borrowed from Middle Dutch colf (“stick, club, bat”), colve, used in the Netherlands for a ball game called kolven; it is related to German Kolben…

It is inherited from Middle English surprise, also supprise, borrowed from Middle French surprise (“a taking unawares”), the noun use of the feminine past participle of surprendre (“to overtake…

It is inherited from Middle English caske, apparently borrowed from Middle French casque (“a cask; a helmet”), from Spanish casco (“skull; wine vat; helmet”), originally a potsherd or broken piece…

It is formed from English brede + -th, on the pattern of length and strength. brede, brede in Middle English, is from Old English brǣdu (“breadth, width”), a noun formed from brād (“broad”), the…

It is borrowed from Middle French compatible, from Medieval Latin compatibilis, from Late Latin compatior, to suffer with, have compassion (see compassion). In Medieval Latin a beneficium…

It is inherited from Middle English desisten, borrowed from Old French desister, recorded in French from 1358 according to the OED, and now désister. Barnhart takes it from Middle French, while the…

It is inherited from Middle English frivolous, spelt fryvolus in its first record, probably borrowed from Latin frīvolus (“silly, empty, trifling, worthless”) with the ending -ous. The Middle…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin incompatibilis, first said of benefices that could not be held together; Merriam-Webster and Barnhart also give borrowed from Middle French incompatible as a…

It is borrowed from Middle French latent (“hidden, not apparent”), recorded in French from 1370–2, and directly borrowed from Latin latēns (“hidden, concealed, secret”), the present participle of…

It is formed from English mother + -hood. The OED compares the earlier motherhead; Middle English had moderhede, used by Gower, which Etymonline dates to the mid-14th century.

It is borrowed from Latin terminālis (“of a boundary or end, final”), from terminus (“end, boundary line”) (see term and terminus) and the suffix -ālis (see -al).

It is inherited from Middle English casuelte, also caswelte and casualte, borrowed from Medieval Latin cāsuālitās, reshaped on the model of penalty, royalty and fealty. The American Heritage…

It is borrowed from Latin crypta (“covered passage, vault, crypt”), from Ancient Greek κρυπτή (kruptḗ, “vault”), the noun use of the feminine of κρυπτός (kruptós, “hidden”), from κρύπτω (krúptō, “to…

It is inherited from Middle English domynaunt, borrowed from Middle French dominant or directly borrowed from Latin dominans (“ruling”), the present participle of dominārī (“to rule, govern”) (see…

It is inherited from Middle English dynastie, borrowed from Middle French dynastie or Late Latin dynastīa, from Ancient Greek δυναστεία (dunasteía, “power, lordship”), from δυνάστης (dunástēs…

It is borrowed from Late Latin episcopālis, perhaps through Middle French épiscopal, from which the OED and Barnhart derive it; Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English allow…

It is borrowed from Latin explōrātōrius (“of or belonging to scouts”), from explōrātor (“scout”), or from explōrātus, the past participle of explōrō (“to reconnoitre, investigate”), with the suffix…

It is inherited from Middle English exquisit, borrowed from Latin exquīsītus (“carefully sought out, choice”), the past participle of exquīrō (“to search out”), from ex- (“out”) and quaerō (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English extreme, borrowed from Middle French extreme, Old French extreme (13th century), from Latin extrēmus (“outermost, utmost, farthest, last”), the superlative of…

It is borrowed from Latin forum (“marketplace, open space, public place”), which is apparently related to forīs, forās “out of doors, outside”, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer- (“door, doorway”)…

It is from English in- + formal, in- meaning not.

It is inherited from Middle English instructour, from Old French instructeur and directly from Medieval Latin instructor (“teacher”), in classical Latin a preparer, an agent noun from īnstruō, to…

It is inherited from Middle English militari, borrowed from Latin mīlitāris (“of soldiers or war, warlike”), partly through Old French militaire, from mīles (“soldier”) (genitive mīlitis), a word of…

It is borrowed from Latin neglēctus (“disregarded”), the past participle of neglegō (“to disregard, make light of, fail to care for”), a variant of neclegō. That verb is made of nec (“not”), an…

It is inherited from Middle English precursoure, borrowed from Latin praecursor (“forerunner, advance guard”), and, according to the AHD and Etymonline, also borrowed from Old French precurseur…

It is borrowed from Middle French putatif and directly borrowed from Late Latin putātīvus (“supposed”), formed with the suffix -īvus on the past participial stem of Latin putō (“to think, suppose…

It is inherited from Middle English resonaunce, borrowed from Middle French resonance, also resonnance, now résonance, formed from resoner (“to resound”) and the suffix -ance. Most dictionaries…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English rousen, also rowsen, first a technical term of hawking and hunting, and its origin is unknown. Because so many hawking terms are French, it is often…

It is borrowed from Old French transaccion (“exchange, transaction”) and directly borrowed from Late Latin transactio (“an agreement, accomplishment”), from the past participle stem of transigere…

It is formed from English wrap + -er, first as inherited from Middle English wrappere, from the verb wrappen. The verb wrap is of unknown origin; the Shorter Oxford compares North Frisian wrappe…

It is borrowed from Middle French adherer (“to be a supporter of; to stick”) (now French adhérer), or comes directly from its source, Latin adhaereō (“to stick to, cling to”), formed from ad- (“to”)…

It is inherited from Middle English casket, also kasket, of uncertain origin. Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from Old French cassette (“little box”) in an altered form, perhaps an…

It is inherited from Middle English devastacioun, borrowed from Medieval Latin dēvastātiō (Late Latin according to Random House and Merriam-Webster Unabridged), from Latin dēvastātus, past…

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman eviction or Middle French eviction, and directly borrowed from Late Latin ēvictiō (“recovery of one's property by judicial decision”), from the past participle stem…

It is inherited from Middle English inhumain, borrowed from Middle French inhumain and directly borrowed from Latin inhūmānus (“inhuman, savage, cruel, rude, uncultured”), formed from in- (“not”)…

1. It was formed from English line + -er. Merriam-Webster takes its oldest sense partly from the Scots verb linen (“to measure or mark with a line”). The ship sense rests on the idea of a line as a…

It is a contraction of fantasy, Middle English fantsy, fansey, from fantasie, which is borrowed from Middle French fantasie, from Late Latin phantasia (“imagination”), from Ancient Greek φαντασία…

It is formed from English fence + -ing, as the verbal noun of the verb, and goes back to Middle English fensing, from fensen (“to protect”). The verb comes from the noun fence, a shortened form of…

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman auncestrel (“inherited from an ancestor”), recorded in law before 1291; Etymonline, the Oxford Dictionary of English, the Shorter Oxford and Klein give the Old…

It is a compound of break and fast “abstinence from food”, formed from the verb phrase breken faste, “to end one's fast of the night”, recorded before 1393 in Gower's Confessio Amantis. The short…

It is, through Anglo-Latin, borrowed from Late Latin bīnārius (“consisting of two”), from Latin bīnī (“two at a time, two by two”), related to bis (“twice”) and duo (“two”) (see two).

It is inherited from Middle English bitumen, also bithumen, borrowed from Latin bitūmen (“asphalt, mineral pitch”). Some obsolete English spellings were taken from Romance forms such as French…

It is borrowed from Middle French concession or directly from Latin concessiō (“an allowing, conceding”). The French word is recorded in Old French from about 1264, and in Anglo-Norman from 1325…

It is inherited from Middle English curas, also curase, borrowed from Middle French curasse, a variant of cuirasse, which the OED records in French from 1418; Etymonline and the Oxford Dictionary of…

It is inherited from Middle English distributen, borrowed from Latin distribūtus, the past participle of distribuō (“to divide, deal out in portions”), made of dis- (“apart, in various directions”)…

It is inherited from Middle English enclosure, borrowed from Anglo-Norman enclosure (“enclosing, fencing”), a legal term recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1346, and Old French enclosure, formed from…

It is inherited from Middle English legitimat, borrowed from Medieval Latin lēgitimātus, the past participle of lēgitimāre (“to make lawful”), partly through Middle French legitimer, from Latin…

It is borrowed from Middle French monstreux, earlier Old French monstereux, recorded from the 13th century, or directly borrowed from Latin mōnstrōsus (“portentous, unnatural, strange”), formed from…

It is inherited from Middle English accēden, which the OED takes as partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman acceder (“to approach; to agree”) and Middle French acceder, and partly borrowed from Latin…

According to the OED it is partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman alias and alias (“also known as”), and partly borrowed from Latin aliās (“at another time, otherwise”); most other dictionaries take it…

1. The larva is of uncertain origin. The AHD, the Oxford Dictionary of English and Collins think it probably came from Low German, and the Shorter Oxford and Dictionary.com compare Dutch bot and…

It is borrowed from Latin celebrātus (“much frequented; kept solemn; famous”), the past participle of celebrō, originally “to attend in great numbers”, then “to assemble to honour, to sing the…

It is formed from English order + -ly: the adverb, recorded first, with the adverbial suffix, and the adjective, from the 16th century, with the adjectival suffix. The OED notes that the adjective…

1. The cloth is inherited from Middle English pewke, also puke, borrowed from Middle Dutch puuc (“the best sort of cloth; the best kind”), also puyc, related to Dutch puik (“choicest; excellent”)…

It is borrowed from Middle French qualifier and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin quālificō (“to attribute a quality to”), from qualis (“of what sort”) (see quality) and -ficāre, to make (see…

It is formed from English steward + -ship, first as steuardship and stewardshippe in Middle English. Steward is from Old English stigweard, also stīweard, from stig (“a house or part of a house…

The OED explains it as partly formed from English adventure + -er and partly borrowed from Middle French aventurier, also adventurier, a person who seeks adventures and a soldier of fortune…

It is formed from English broker + -age. Broker is from Middle English brokour, from Anglo-Norman brocour (“middleman, agent”). The OED derives the Anglo-Norman word from Middle Dutch brocke…

It is inherited from Middle English dekke, probably borrowed from Middle Dutch dec, decke (“roof, covering, cloak”), from decken (“to cover”), from Proto-Germanic *thakam, the source also of thatch…

It is inherited from Middle English preparen, borrowed from Middle French préparer (14th century), and directly from Latin praeparō (“to make ready beforehand”), from prae “before” and parō “to make…