English words first recorded in the 16th century

It is an alteration of the earlier cartage, itself borrowed from Middle French cartouche (“a full charge for a pistol wrapped in paper”) in a corrupted form, from Italian cartoccio (“roll or cornet…

It is a borrowing of Persian chīnī “Chinese porcelain”, altered under the influence of the country name China. Etymonline, Hoad and Klein treat it instead as a shortening of China ware, “ware from…

The OED takes it as borrowed from French compassionné, latinized, the past participle of compassionner (“to feel compassion for”), made to look like English adjectives in -ate. Etymonline and…

It is borrowed from Late Latin competītiō (“rivalry”), formed from the past participle stem of competō with the suffix -iō. The OED glosses the Latin noun "agreement, a judicial demand, rivalry". In…

It is borrowed from Middle French computer (“to calculate”) and its source borrowed from Latin computō (“to count up, reckon, include in reckoning”), formed from com- (“together”) and putō (“to…

It is borrowed from Middle French contester (“to dispute, oppose”), from Latin contestor (“to call to witness”), especially contestārī lītem “to introduce a lawsuit by calling witnesses, bring an…

It is formed from English curd + -le, with the frequentative suffix, on the verb meaning to make into curd, a verb now obsolete. That verb is from Middle English crudden (“to coagulate, congeal”)…

It is borrowed from Latin cuspis (“point, spear, pointed end, head”), which is of unknown or uncertain origin. The Latin word is also the source of cuspid, bicuspid and tricuspid, and of cuspidate.

It is borrowed from Latin discrepantia (“discordance, disagreement”), from discrepāns, the present participle of discrepō (“to sound differently, differ”), which is formed from dis- (“apart”) and…

It is borrowed from Middle French desmanteler (“to tear down the walls of a fortress; literally, to strip of a cloak”), also spelled desmanteller, now démanteler. The French verb is formed from des-…

It is borrowed from Middle French embassée (“mission, office of an ambassador”), from Old Italian ambasciata, from Old Occitan ambaisada (“office of an ambassador”), going back to Latin ambactus…

It is borrowed from Middle French émotion, from esmovoir (“to stir up”), after mouvoir, motion, from Latin ēmovēre (“to move out, remove, agitate”), from ex (“out”) and movēre (“to move”) (see move).

It is borrowed from Middle French escorte, from Italian scorta (“a guiding”), the noun use of the feminine past participle of scorgere, to guide, conduct, from Vulgar Latin *excorrigō, from ex-…

It is a variant spelling of mamma, imitative of a child's first syllables, ma, ma. Barnhart notes that the word is found in many European languages, such as Latin mamma (“mother, breast”), Greek…

It is formed from English mis- + carriage, or, as the Shorter Oxford and Etymonline take it, from English miscarry + -age. The verb miscarry meant to go wrong or come to harm, and Etymonline…

It is borrowed from Latin obsolētus (“grown old, worn out, fallen into disuse”), the past participle of obsolēscō (“to fall into disuse, be forgotten”). The Latin verb is probably formed from ob-…

It is borrowed from Middle French ode, recorded in French from 1488 for a lyric poem of antiquity meant to be sung, and since 1548 for a lyric poem in regular stanzas; Anglo-Norman already had ode…

It is formed from English optic after Medieval Latin optica, a neuter plural, from Ancient Greek τὰ ὀπτικά (tà optiká, “optical matters”), the neuter plural of ὀπτικός (optikós, “of or for sight”)…

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “suffering, feeling, emotion, passion”), from the stem of πάσχω (páskhō, “to suffer”), and related to πένθος (pénthos, “grief, sorrow”). The OED…

It is borrowed from Latin plūs (“more”), the comparative of multus “much”, Old Latin plous, altered under the influence of minus from *pleos, from Proto-Indo-European *pelə- (“to fill”); it is akin…

It is borrowed from Italian portico, recorded in Italian from before 1292, from Latin porticus (“colonnade, arcade, covered walk, porch”), from porta (“gate”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to…

1. The ridge of rock is early modern borrowed from Dutch riffe (modern rif) and Middle Low German rif, from a Scandinavian source like Old Norse rif (“rib; ridge in the sea”), related to rib. The…

It is formed from English re- + name. The OED derives it from the noun name, Etymonline from the verb. Etymonline also records the spelling “re-name”.

It is borrowed from Arabic رُخّ (ruḵḵ), which the OED calls of unknown origin, perhaps itself a loanword, and most other dictionaries derive from Persian رُخ (rukh). According to the OED, the…

It is a compound from English school + boy. The OED compares the Old English scolcniht (“schoolboy, student, disciple”), formed from the words that became school and knight.

The OED takes it as a frequentative formation on a base perhaps of Scandinavian origin, and Hoad, the Shorter Oxford, Collins, Merriam-Webster and the Oxford Dictionary of English also favour…

It is borrowed from Middle French sentinelle, from Italian sentinella. centinela and sentinella come from the Italian or the French word. The origin of the Italian word is unknown according to the…

It is formed from English shade + -y. The noun shade goes back to Old English sceadu (“shade, shadow”). Old English had a different adjective, sceadlic (“shady”), and the Elizabethans also used…

It is borrowed from Middle French sympathie, or directly from Late Latin sympathia, community of feeling, from Greek συμπάθεια (sumpátheia, “fellow-feeling”), from συμπαθής (sumpathḗs), having a…

It is borrowed from French tenable (“that can be held”), an adjective recorded in French from the 12th century, formed from tenir (“to hold”) and -able, from Latin teneō (“to hold, keep”), from…

It is formed from English tenant + -cy, or, in the analysis of the OED and the Shorter Oxford, from tenant with the suffix -ancy. The English word represents Medieval Latin tenentia, recorded in…

It is formed from English un- + usual.

It is borrowed from Italian violino, a diminutive of viola, the source of viola; Spanish and Portuguese have the same diminutive. Merriam-Webster takes the Italian noun from Old Occitan viola…

It is a compound from English year + book. The OED compares Dutch jaarboek (“chronicle, annual record”) (1573), Middle Low German jārbōk (“account book”), Old High German jārbuoh (“chronicle”) and…

It is borrowed from Middle French amnestie, from Latin amnēstia, from Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία (amnēstía, “forgetfulness, oblivion; amnesty”), from ἀμνηστός (amnēstos, “forgotten”), from ἀ- (a-…

1. The verb to dismiss is borrowed from Dutch casseren (“to disband soldiers; to rescind a will”), which the OED and the Shorter Oxford also call Flemish; Barnhart and Etymonline give Middle Dutch…

It is borrowed from Middle French cohérence, a French word of the 16th century, and also directly borrowed from Latin cohaerentia (“a sticking together, coherence”). The Latin noun is formed from…

It is formed from English economic + -ics, the plural ending, perhaps after French économique, originally on the pattern of Latin oeconomica and Greek ta oikonomiká, the title of a treatise by…

It is borrowed from New Latin lexicon, possibly through Middle French lexicon, from Ancient Greek λεξικόν (lexikón, “wordbook”), short for λεξικὸν βιβλίον (lexikòn biblíon, “word book”), the neuter…

It is borrowed from Middle French national, and was also formed from English nation + -al. The French word comes from nation, from Latin nātiō (“birth; race of people”).

It is formed from English over- + seas, the plural of sea, replacing the earlier oversea.

It is borrowed from Middle French posture (“position of the body, bearing”), recorded in 1588, and as posteure in 1580, from Italian postura (“position, posture”), recorded before 1313 as a variant…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin ratiōnāle (“a reasoned exposition”), used in the titles of works from the 12th century, as in the “Rationale divinorum officiorum”, the noun use of the neuter of…

It is borrowed from Late Latin vacantia, which Merriam-Webster calls Medieval Latin, from Latin vacāns (“empty, unoccupied”), the present participle of vacō (“to be empty, be free”), which…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin analysis, from Greek Ancient Greek ἀνάλυσις (análusis, “a breaking up, a loosening, a releasing”), from ἀναλύω (analúō, “to unloose, release”), from ana- “up…

It is formed from English ascend, on the model of descend and descent. The OED notes that there was no such word in French: descent itself comes from French descente, formed on descendre after pairs…

It is borrowed from French auguste or directly borrowed from Latin augustus (“venerable, majestic, noble; consecrated”), perhaps originally “consecrated by the augurs, with favourable auguries”…

It is formed from English bounce + -er. The verb bounce originally meant "to thump, hit"; the OED compares, for the sense "a large specimen", bouncing and the similar use of thumper and thumping.

It is partly borrowed from Medieval Latin characterizō (“to distinguish; to write”), and partly formed from English character + -ize. The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English also…

It is of imitative origin, perhaps related to Dutch and East Frisian klikken “to click”, German klicken, and Old French clique “the tick of a clock” and cliquer “to click”. The noun is from the…

It is borrowed from Middle French comédien, from comédie, comedy (see comedy), and -ien (see -ian).

It is borrowed from Latin compendium (“a saving, gain; a shortening, abridgment”), literally "that which is weighed together", from compendō (“to weigh together”), from com- (“together”) and pendō…

It is borrowed from Latin dēficiēns (“failing, lacking”), the present participle of dēficiō (“to fail, be wanting; originally to undo, leave, forsake”), formed from dē- (“down, away”) and faciō (“to…

It is borrowed from Latin diārium (“a daily allowance, later a journal”), the neuter of diārius, daily, from diēs (“day”), from PIE Proto-Indo-European *dyeu- (“to shine; sky, heaven”), the root…

It is borrowed from Latin discus (“discus, disk”), which is from Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “disk, quoit, platter”). The Greek word is traditionally related to δικεῖν (dikeîn, “to throw”), which…

It is borrowed from Latin distortiō (“a twisting, distortion”), a noun of action from the past participle of distorqueō (“to twist different ways, distort”), from dis- and torqueō (“to twist”). The…

It is borrowed from Latin ēlabōrātus, the past participle of ēlabōrō, to work out, exert oneself, acquire by labour, from ē-, out, and labor, work (see labour).

It is borrowed from French énergie, partly directly borrowed from Late Latin energīa, from Ancient Greek ἐνέργεια (enérgeia, “activity, action, operation”), from ἐνεργός (energós, “active…

The word is of unknown origin. The OED compares the verb hinch, and Dictionary.com takes it as apparently a variant of that obsolete word for "push, shove"; Etymonline suggests that it may be a…

It is probably formed from Medieval Latin identicus (“the same”) and -al, from identitās (“sameness”) (see identity), from idem (“the same”). It replaced Middle English idemptical (about 1475).