English words first recorded in the 16th century

It is borrowed from French vase, from Latin vās (“vessel, container”). Etymonline finds an earlier use in a late 14th-century inventory, of a silver vessel, from Old French vas or vase. The Latin…

It is borrowed from Middle French compartiment (“part partitioned off”), from Italian compartimento, from compartire (“to divide, share”), from Late Latin compartior (“to divide, share”), formed…

It is borrowed from Latin levitās (“lightness, frivolity”), from levis (“light in weight”) and the suffix that gives English -ity. The OED, Klein and Etymonline instead take it through French, from…

It is partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman notoritee, also notoritie, and Middle French notoriété, and partly directly borrowed from Medieval Latin notōrietās (“the state of being well known”), which…

It is partly borrowed from Middle French physiologie (“natural science”), recorded in French from 1547, and partly directly borrowed from Latin physiologia (“natural philosophy, natural science”)…

It is borrowed from French prosecution (late 13th century) and directly from Late Latin prōsecūtiō, prōsecūtiōnem, a following, continuation, retinue, from prōsecūtus, past participle of prōsequor…

It is a compound from English roof + top.

It is borrowed from Latin abruptus (“broken off; steep, sheer; disconnected”), the past participle of abrumpō (“to break off”), formed from ab- (“off, away”) and rumpō (“to break”). The Latin verb…

It is probably borrowed from Old Spanish briza (“cold northeast wind”) or Portuguese briza (now brisa), but compare Italian brezza (“cold wind”) and French brise (“breeze”); the origin is uncertain…

It is formed from English draw + back, after the phrasal verb draw back, to retreat or withdraw. The OED compares the earlier pullback for the sense "hindrance". Etymonline explains the idea as…

It is borrowed from Latin exaggerātiō (“elevation, exaltation”), a noun of action from exaggerō (“to heighten, amplify, magnify; to heap up”), formed from intensive ex- and aggerō (“to heap up”)…

It is formed from English ham + string, ham in its older sense, the bend or hollow of the knee. Ham is from Old English hamm, from Proto-Germanic *hammō (“shin bone, hollow of the knee”), the source…

It is formed from English heed + -less. The noun heed apparently comes from the verb, and has no corresponding Old English noun; the verb is from Old English hēdan (“to observe, take care of”), from…

It is borrowed from French modeste or directly from Latin modestus, moderate, keeping due measure, sober, temperate, from a stem *medes-, related to modus, measure, manner (see mode, moderate), from…

It is a compound of note and book.

Its origin is unknown. Etymonline and Weekley suggest a connection with German quer (“across, slanting”), the source of queer, through the notion of twisting, but Etymonline notes that the word's…

It is from Latin sēlēctus, the past participle of sēligō “to choose out”, from sē- “apart” and legō “to gather, choose”, from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to collect, gather”). It is related to…

1. It is borrowed from Middle French choc (“violent attack”), from Old French choquer “to strike against”, probably of Germanic origin; compare Middle Dutch schokken “to push, jolt”. Hoad calls the…

It is formed from English steam + -y. The noun goes back to Old English steam (“vapour, fumes, odour”), from Proto-Germanic *staumaz, a word of unknown origin.

It is borrowed from Spanish tabaco, traditionally from an Arawakan language of the Caribbean, probably Taino, in which it was said to mean a roll of tobacco leaves (Las Casas, 1552) or a pipe for…

It is a compound from English worth + while, from the older phrase “worth the while”, which Etymonline dates to the late 14th century.

It is borrowed from Late Latin analyticus (“analytical”), recorded in the 6th century in Boethius, which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary call Medieval Latin, from Ancient Greek…

It is formed from English astonish + -ment. Astonish is an alteration of the earlier verb astonen, also astonien, which is from Old French estoner (“to stun, daze”), from Vulgar Latin *extonō, from…

It is borrowed from Latin ēducātor, which in classical Latin meant one who brings up children, especially a foster father, and then also a tutor. It is formed from ēducātus, the past participle of…

It is borrowed from Latin illūstris (“lighted, bright; distinguished, famous”) with the English suffix -ous. It replaced the earlier English adjective illustre, recorded before 1460, from Middle…

It is borrowed from Latin īnflīctus, the past participle of īnflīgō (“to strike or dash against; to inflict”), formed from in- (“in, on, against”) and flīgō (“to strike, dash”). Barnhart suggests…

1. It is borrowed from Italian novella (“short story, tale; news”), originally novella storia “new story”, from Latin novella (“new things”), the neuter plural or feminine of novellus (“new, young…

It is borrowed from Middle French registration and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin registrātiō (“a registering”) (accusative registrationem), a noun of action from the past participle stem of…

It is borrowed from Persian شاه (šāh, “king”), shortened from Old Persian 𐏋 (xšāyaθiya, “king”), probably originally an adjective meaning "mighty". The OED, Weekley and Skeat relate it to Sanskrit…

It is borrowed from Latin significāns (“indicating, meaning”) (stem significant-), the present participle of significō (“to make known, indicate, signify”). Barnhart treats it as formed in English…

It is probably an alteration of Middle English sprenten, to leap, spring (before 1325), from a Scandinavian source: compare borrowed from Old Norse spretta (“to jump up, spurt”) and dialectal…

It is, apparently through a dialect development, inherited from Middle English swopen (“to sweep”), inherited from Old English swāpan (“to sweep, brandish, dash, rush”), from Proto-Germanic…

It was formed from English trade + -er in English, from the verb trade.

It is formed from English wide + -en. Wide is from Old English wīd, from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz, which is also the source of Old Saxon wīd, Old Frisian wīd, Old Norse víðr, Dutch wijd and Old High…

It is borrowed from Middle French accoster (“to approach, draw near”), also acoster, from Old French acoster, recorded from 1155, which the OED and Wiktionary analyse as a- and coste (“rib, side…

It is borrowed from Middle French calibre, recorded in French by the mid-16th century and perhaps the late 15th. Most dictionaries trace the French word through Italian calibro or a Spanish form to…

1. The jargon comes from the verb cant, to speak in the whining, singsong tone of beggars (1567), probably borrowed from Old Northern French canter (“to sing, chant”) (Old French chanter), from…

It is formed from English chill + -y, the noun. Chill is from Middle English chele, from Old English ciele and cele (“cold, coolness, frost”), from Proto-Germanic *kal- (“to be cold”), from…

It is borrowed from Latin decentia (“comeliness, decency”), formed from decēns (“becoming, fitting, seemly”) with the noun suffix -ia. The adjective is the present participle of decet (“it is…

It is borrowed from Latin dīrus (“fearful, awful, ill-boding”), a religious term in Latin. Its further origin is unclear. Etymonline, quoting de Vaan, takes it as apparently a dialect word in Latin…

It is formed in English from disclose and -ure, perhaps on the model of closure.

It is formed from English dream + -y. The OED compares Middle Low German drȫmig (“sleepy”) and Middle High German troumic (“full of dreams”), and the earlier English dreamish and dreaming.

It is formed from English drib + -le, the frequentative of the obsolete verb drib (recorded from the 1520s), which is a variant of drip, apparently an imitative alteration of drip or drop. The verb…

It is a natural exclamation; SOED compares the earlier interjection ay, and MWU traces it to Middle English ey.

It is probably imitative, and is probably a contraction of fillip, also imitative; Etymonline also suggests a thinned form of flap. It appears earlier as part of “flip-flop” (1529).

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἡγεμονία (hēgemonía, “leadership, authority, rule”), from ἡγεμών (hēgemṓn, “leader, guide, commander”), from ἡγέομαι (hēgéomai, “to lead”). The OED allows that it…

1. The agent noun is formed from English hook + -er, from the verb hook. The verb goes back to hōc (“hook, angle”). The sense "prostitute" has drawn several popular explanations. Bartlett's…

It is of uncertain origin, perhaps from a Scandinavian source, compare Old Norse hugga (“to comfort, soothe”), from hugr, mind, mood, related to Old English hycgan, to think, and Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌲𐍃 (hugs)…

It is formed from Latin Lesbius (“of Lesbos”), from Greek Λέσβιος (Lésbios), from Λέσβος (Lésbos), the Greek island in the north-eastern Aegean, and -ian. The island was the home of Sappho, the…

It is borrowed from Late Latin lītigātiō, from the past participle stem of Latin lītigō (“to dispute, quarrel, sue”), from līs (“lawsuit, dispute, strife”), of uncertain origin, and agō (“to drive…

It is borrowed from Middle French lyrique, in Klein's spelling also lirique, and in part a direct borrowing of its source, Latin lyricus (“of or for the lyre”), from Ancient Greek λυρικός (lurikós…

It is borrowed from Middle French manufacture (1511), from Medieval Latin *manūfactūra, a making by hand, from Latin manū, by hand (see manual), and factūra, a making, from faciō, to make (see…

It is borrowed from Latin modulor (“to regulate sounds by the rules of melody, set to music, make music, measure”), through the past participial stem modulāt-. The Latin verb comes from modulus…

It is borrowed from Latin quantum (“how much, as much as”), the neuter singular of quantus, how great (see quantity).

It is borrowed from Latin reciprocus (“returning the same way, alternating”) with the suffix -al. The Latin adjective is explained as *recoprocos, from *recos (“turning backward”), formed on re-…

It is formed from English resident + -ency, or with the suffix -cy, beside the earlier residence. The base noun comes from Old French resident and directly from Latin residēns (accusative…

It is formed from English re- + write.

It is borrowed from Dutch splitten, from Middle Dutch splitten, which is not found in Middle English and is related to Middle Dutch and Middle Low German splīten, Middle High German splīzen (German…

It is formed from English a- (“on”) + head (“front”), originally a nautical term, the opposite of astern. An earlier form was on head, from the 16th century.

It is formed from English bubble + -y. The OED takes it as probably formed partly on the noun and partly on the verb. The slang noun meaning champagne is, according to Etymonline, short for “bubbly…