English words first recorded in the 16th century

It is borrowed from Middle French mandat and directly from Latin mandātum, a command, commission, the noun use of the neuter past participle of mandō, to order, commit to one's charge, probably from…

It is borrowed from Late Latin dērogātōrius, from Latin dērogātus, the past participle of dērogō (“to take away, detract from; to repeal in part”); the OED derives the adjective from the agent noun…

It is borrowed from Latin īrōnīa (“pretended ignorance; saying the opposite of what one means”), partly through Middle French ironie, from Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία (eirōneía, “dissimulation, assumed…

It is a shortening of aslope, on the incline, probably from an Old English past participle *āslopen, from āslūpan (“to slip away”), from ā- (“away”) and slūpan (“to slip”) (see sleeve). Hoad calls…

It is borrowed from Late Latin ūnificō (“to make one”), which the OED and Klein call medieval Latin, though Barnhart and others take it as partly borrowed from Middle French unifier; the French verb…

It is formed from English attain + -ment, and the OED compares Old French ataignement, modern atteignement; Etymonline takes it from the French word. Dictionary.com gives a Middle English form…

Its origin is not known for certain. It first appears in a coded line of the poem “Flen flyys”, written in mixed Latin and English before 1500, where the cipher “gxddbov” stands for “fuccant”, a…

It is formed from English leak + -age. The OED compares Dutch lekkage.

It is an agent noun from survive, with the Latin-form ending -or.

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin verbātim (“word for word”), recorded in post-classical Latin from the 8th century, formed from Latin verbum (“word”) and the adverb suffix -ātim. It is thus…

It is borrowed from Middle French elegance (“refinement”), modern élégance, from Latin ēlegantia (“fineness of taste, refinement; choice of words”), which Etymonline takes as the direct source. The…

It is formed from English human + kind, after mankind, and was at first written with a space between its parts. The OED compares the earlier womankind and menkind, and the older humanity. Middle…

It is borrowed from Middle French gravité or directly borrowed from Latin gravitās (“weight, heaviness, seriousness”), from gravis (“heavy”) (see grave), from PIE Proto-Indo-European *gwere-…

It is a compound, from English out + side, the outer side.

It is borrowed from Middle French trafique (“trade”), traffique, from Italian traffico (early 14th century), from trafficare (“to carry on trade”), which is of uncertain origin. The OED (1989) takes…

It is formed from English un- + break + -able, or, in Etymonline's analysis, from un- and breakable. Merriam-Webster gives the Middle English form unbrekable, from breken (“to break”). The verb goes…

It is borrowed from French illicite (“unlawful, forbidden”), itself a learned borrowing from Latin illicitus (“not allowed, unlawful”); some dictionaries allow a direct borrowing from Latin as well…

It is borrowed from Middle French artiste (“artist, artisan, learned man”), from artista, from Medieval Latin artista (“a student or master of the liberal arts”), from Latin ars (“art, skill”), stem…

It is borrowed from Latin Flōra (“the Roman goddess of flowers”), from flōs (“flower”) (genitive flōris), which is also the source of flower. The scientific sense was taken from New Latin flora…

It is borrowed from Middle French importance, or directly from Medieval Latin importantia (“significance, consequence”), from important- “being of consequence”, from importō, the source of important…

It is a Scottish word of uncertain or unknown origin. Barnhart suggests French s'allonger (“to stretch out, lie at full length”), from Old French alongier (“to lengthen”), from Latin longus (“long”)…

1. Its origin is uncertain. It began as a Scottish and northern English word, and Hoad and Word Origins derive it from Gaelic, comparing Scottish Gaelic and Irish peata “tame animal”. Barnhart and…

It is the past participle of wear, used as an adjective; the verb is from Old English werian, whose participle was geworen in Etymonline's account.

It is a shortening of the Middle English phrase good chepe “a good bargain, a good price”, formed after Old French à bon marché “at a good market”. The noun is inherited from Middle English chep…

It is a special use and spelling of gate, way, road, going, inherited from Middle English gate, also gait, borrowed from Old Norse gata (“way, road, path”). The Old Norse word goes back to…

It is borrowed from Latin generātus, the past participle of generāre (“to beget, produce”), from genus (“race, kind, birth”) (genitive generis), from PIE Proto-Indo-European *gene- (“to give birth…

It is imitative, probably formed with the frequentative suffix -le, like gaggle and cackle. Similar words are Dutch giechelen, Middle High German gickeln and German kichern. Weekley saw in it a…

It is borrowed from Latin indulgēns (“kind, tender, fond”), the present participle of indulgeō (“to be kind, yield, concede”), the source of indulge. The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of…

It is borrowed from Latin integer (“untouched, intact, whole, entire”), formed from in- (“not”) and the root of tangō (“to touch”), from Proto-Indo-European *tag- (“to touch, handle”). Barnhart and…

It is probably a back-formation from English intelligence, modelled on from Latin intelligēns (“discerning, understanding”) (accusative intelligentem), the present participle of intelligō, earlier…

It is borrowed from Latin inventor (“contriver, author, discoverer, founder”), an agent noun from the past participle stem of inveniō (“to come upon, find; devise”), from in- (“in, on”) and veniō…

It is borrowed from Latin posterior (“later, after, behind”), the comparative of posterus (“coming after, following, next”), from post (“after, behind”). As a noun it continues the Latin uses of the…

It is formed from English re- (“again”) + think, and the OED compares French repenser, recorded in Old French from the 12th century. The noun is from the verb.

It is borrowed from Middle French vétéran or directly borrowed from Latin veterānus (“old, experienced; long in use”), from vetus (“old, aged”) (genitive veteris), from PIE Proto-Indo-European *wet-…

It is an alteration of wonders (“marvellous, wondrous”), originally the genitive of the noun wonder, with its ending replaced by -ous after words such as marvellous. Etymonline takes it as partly…

It is probably a back-formation from English investigation, after from Latin investīgātus, the past participle of investīgō (“to trace out, search into”), from in- (“in, into”) and vestīgō (“to…

It is probably formed from English neb (“beak, bill, snout”) + -le, literally "a small projection", and is an alteration of the earlier form neble, also nible. The OED notes that the change of b to…

It is formed from English red + head. It is recorded earlier as a surname, “Adam Redhed” in 1256, which the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names explains as a nickname from Middle English red hed (“red…

It is apparently inherited from Middle English trimmen (“to exhort, strengthen; to make firm”), probably inherited from Old English trymian (“to strengthen, confirm, set in order, arrange”) (also…

It is borrowed from Latin cōnsolidātus, the past participle of cōnsolidō (“to make firm or solid”), formed from con-, here an intensive prefix, and solidō (“to make firm or solid”), from solidus…

It is borrowed from French grade (“grade, degree”), and directly from Latin gradus (“a step, pace; a degree”), from gradior (“to walk, step, go”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghredh- (“to walk, go”)…

It is of unknown or uncertain origin, probably a variant of hob, a shelf beside a fireplace, perhaps originally a lump or round protuberance.

It is a compound from English play + book.

It is borrowed from Middle French monsieur, literally "my lord", a compound of mon (“my”) and sieur (“lord”). The French title is recorded from 1297 as Old French monsor, for a man of slightly…

It is borrowed from Old French penalite and directly from Medieval Latin penalitas, probably through Anglo-Norman French, from Latin poenālis “relating to punishment”, from poena “punishment, pain”…

It is formed from English recite + -al. The verb, recorded from 1430, comes from Anglo-Norman receiter and Old French reciter (“to read aloud”), and directly from Latin recitō (“to read aloud…

It is borrowed from Latin alternatus (“done by turns”), the past participle of alternāre (“to do by turns, exchange”), from alternus, every other, from alter (“the other”) (see alter).

It is formed from English at one + -ment, after Medieval Latin adūnāmentum (“unity”), from adūnō (“to unite”), and after the earlier noun onement. The OED notes that in use it is a verbal noun from…

It is backward with the adverbial genitive ending -s. Backward itself is Middle English bakward (before 1325), from abakward, modelled on hindeward and foreward with the Old English suffix -weard…

It is formed from English brown + -ie, a diminutive, first in Scots, so called from the sprite's supposed brown colour, as a little brown man. The OED derives it from the noun brown with some…

It is formed from English clergy + man. The noun clergy is from Old French clergié (“clerics, learned men”) and a similar word meaning learning, from Medieval Latin clericatus and ultimately Late…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin compulsōrius (“coercive”), from Latin compulsus, the past participle of compellō (“to drive together, force”), the source of compel. The verb is formed from com-…

It is borrowed from Latin concēdō (“to withdraw, give way, yield; to grant, allow, agree to”), perhaps partly borrowed from French through French concéder, as most dictionaries allow. The Latin verb…

It is formed from English convey + -or, with the variant conveyer in -er. Etymonline calls the word an agent noun in Latin form and dates it to the 1640s, the spelling in -er being earlier (1510s)…

It is borrowed from Latin dēlētiō (“destruction, annihilation”), from the past participle of dēleō (“to wipe out, destroy, blot out”), and the noun suffix -iō. In post-classical Latin of the 16th…

1. It is borrowed from Middle Dutch docke or Middle Low German docke, of unknown origin, perhaps ultimately from Late Latin *ductia, aqueduct, from Latin dūcō, to lead, and perhaps first meaning the…

In its main sense it is borrowed from French dôme, from Occitan doma in Barnhart and Etymonline, or from Italian duomo (“cathedral, dome”) in Hoad, Merriam-Webster and the NODE, ultimately from…

It is formed from English endure + -ance, or, according to Barnhart, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English, from Middle French endurance; it was formerly also spelt with an initial…

It is borrowed from Middle French évader, from Latin ēvādō (“to go out, escape, get away”), from ē- (“out, away”), a form of ex-, and vādō (“to go, walk”). Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com also…

It is a back-formation from fragility, influenced by Middle French fragile, or a direct borrowing of the French, from Latin fragilis (“easily broken”), from the root of frangō (“to break”), from…