English words first recorded in the 16th century

It is borrowed from Middle French commerce, a learned borrowing of Latin commercium (“trade, trafficking”), from com- (“together, with”) and merx (“wares, merchandise”) (genitive mercis; see…

It is borrowed from Latin excursiō (“a running out, sortie, journey, expedition; a digression”), a noun of action from excurrō (“to run out”), formed from ex- (“out”) and currō (“to run”), from…

It is borrowed from French exploration and directly borrowed from Latin exploratio (“an examination”), from the past participle stem of explōrāre (“to investigate, search out”) (see explore).

It is borrowed from Middle French infertilité (“unfruitfulness, barrenness”) and directly borrowed from Late Latin infertilitas (“barrenness, unfruitfulness”), from infertilis (“unfruitful”), the…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin pīrātia (“piracy”), recorded in British Latin sources from 1419 to 1606, from Ancient Greek πειρατεία (peirateía, “piracy”), from πειρατής (peiratḗs, “brigand…

It is probably an alteration from English proprietary (“owner”), with the suffix -or in place of the ending. The OED, as quoted by Etymonline, called it anomalously formed and substituted in the…

It is borrowed from Latin successus (“an advance; a good result”), the noun use of the past participle of succēdō (“to come after, follow; to prosper”), the source of succeed, from sub (“next to…

It is formed from English supreme + -acy, after primacy. Etymonline also allows a borrowing from Latin suprēmitās. The OED compares Medieval Latin suprematia (1537, in a British source), French…

It is borrowed from Latin aquaeductus (“a conveyance of water, a conduit”), properly the phrase aquae ductus, from aqua (“water”), here in the genitive, and ductus (“a leading, conducting”), from…

It is borrowed from Latin arduus (“high, steep; difficult”), with the suffix -ous. Barnhart suggests that the borrowing may have been influenced by Old French ardu (“steep, difficult”), recorded in…

It is borrowed from Latin ārea (“level ground, open space; threshing floor”), a word of uncertain origin. It is often connected with āreō (“to be dry”), as a bare space dried or cleared by burning…

It is borrowed from Middle French artisan (“worker in a skilled trade”), from Italian artigiano, formed on arte (“art”) with the suffix seen in partisan. Barnhart, followed by Etymonline, held that…

It is borrowed from Latin aestuārium (“tidal part of a shore, tidal marsh, channel”), properly an adjective meaning "tidal", from aestus (“heat, boiling, surge, tide”) and the suffix -ārium. Latin…

It is borrowed from French expectation (14th century) or directly borrowed from Latin exspectātiō (“anticipation, an awaiting”), from the past participle of exspectō, to look out for (see expect).

1. The channel is probably borrowed from French goulet (“neck of a bottle, outlet, narrow passage of water”), or an alteration of gullet, whose Middle English form golet also meant a water channel…

It is borrowed from French illégal or directly from Medieval Latin illegālis, from Latin il-, the assimilated form of in- (“not”), and lēgālis (“legal”). It is related to legal and illegality.

It is borrowed from Latin investīgātor (“one who searches into something”), the agent noun of investīgō (“to track down, search out”), from in- (“in, into”) and vestīgō (“to track”), from vestīgium…

It is borrowed from French localité or directly Late Latin locālitās, from locālis (“belonging to a place”), from locus (“a place, spot”). The French word is recorded from the 16th century. The OED…

It is formed from English orphan + -age. In the sense "the state of being an orphan" it first followed Middle French orphelinage, which Amyot used in 1559 in the text that North translated in 1579…

It is borrowed from Middle French parfum (also perfum), a noun formed from the verb parfumer (“to fumigate; to scent”), which came into English separately as the verb perfume. The French verb is…

It is borrowed from Latin subtractus, the past participle of subtrahō (“to draw from beneath, withdraw, take away”), formed from sub- (“under, from below”) and trahō (“to draw, pull”). Ayto explains…

It is formed from English wood + -en, the adjective suffix of material as in golden and woollen.

It is formed from English afore- + mentioned, that is, afore and the past participle of mention. The OED compares the earlier aforesaid and aforenamed, and the earlier before-mentioned and…

Its origin is disputed: Barnhart, the American Heritage Dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford take it as partly a variant of crutch and partly inherited from Middle…

It is borrowed from Middle French décent or directly borrowed from Latin decēns (“becoming, fitting”), the present participle of decet (“to be fitting, proper”). Latin decet is cognate with Ancient…

It is borrowed from Latin factum (“deed, event, occurrence”), literally “a thing done”, the neuter past participle of faciō (“to do, make”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to set, put”). It is a…

It is probably borrowed from German Pfeife (“fife, pipe, whistle”), from Middle High German pfīfe, from Old High German pfīffa, from Vulgar Latin *pīpa (“tube, pipe”), from Latin pīpō (“to chirp”)…

The OED gives two possible sources: Medieval Latin occurrentia (“occasion, happening, event”), recorded from the 14th century or earlier and formed on occurrēns, the present participle of occurrō…

It is formed from English un- + finished, the past participle of finish. The verb comes from Old French feniss-, the stem of fenir (“to end”), from Latin fīniō (“to limit; put an end to”), from…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin alternātīvus, or French alternatif, from Latin alternātus, past participle of alternō (“to do by turns, interchange”), from alternus (“one after the other…

It is formed from English boil + -er, an agent noun from the verb. The verb came into Middle English from Anglo-Norman boillir, also buillir, Old French bolir, from Latin bulliō (“to bubble, seethe”).

It is formed from the verb clear and -ance.

It is borrowed from Middle French dessert (“last course of a meal”), literally the removal of what has been served, from desservir (“to clear the table”), from des- (“removal, undoing”) and servir…

It is from English dis- + like, a hybrid of a Latin prefix and a native verb.

It is formed from English enlarge + -ment. The verb is from Old French enlargier (“to widen, increase, make larger”), from en- and large; the OED notes that some modern uses of the verb follow those…

It is borrowed from Latin exstāns (“standing out”), also extāns, the present participle of exstō (“to stand out, be prominent, be visible, exist”), formed from ex- (“out”) and stō (“to stand”), from…

It is borrowed from Latin exstinguō (“to quench, put out; to wipe out, obliterate”), also spelled extinguō, with the ending -ish. Barnhart stresses that it was borrowed directly from Latin and not…

The verb is probably a back-formation from English limphalt (“lame”), which is from Old English lemphealt (“halting, lame”), also læmpihalt. The second element of the Old English word is healt…

It is borrowed from Middle French municipal or directly borrowed from Latin mūnicipālis (“of a citizen of a free town”), from mūniceps (“citizen of a municipium”), from mūnus (“duty, office…

It is formed from the obsolete verb mutine (“to revolt”) and the noun suffix -y, borrowed from Middle French mutiner (“to revolt”), from mutin (“rebellious”), from Old French muete, meute (“revolt…

It is formed from English one + self. At first the first element was the genitive one's, and the compound was made on the model of myself; in later use it was also understood as one plus self, like…

It is formed from English pack + -age, or from the related Dutch pakkage “baggage”, which MWU gives as the probable source, itself formed on the model of bagage. It is related to pack and baggage.

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman petroille, also petrole in Middle French, recorded in Old French from the 13th century as petrole, now pétrole, from Medieval Latin petroleum. The Medieval Latin…

The verb is borrowed from Middle French revolter (“to turn; to rebel”), from Italian rivoltare (“to overthrow, turn round”), from Vulgar Latin *revolvitō (“to overturn”), a frequentative of revolvō…

It is from Latin ridiculus (“laughable”) or ridiculōsus, from rīdeō “to laugh”. It is related to ridicule, deride and risible.

It is borrowed from Middle French scène and directly borrowed from Latin scaena (“scene, stage of a theatre”), scēna, from Ancient Greek σκηνή (skēnḗ, “tent, booth; wooden stage for actors”)…

Earlier templet, it is probably from English temple + -et, from temple, a device on a loom that keeps the cloth stretched, though the revised OED (2023) calls the origin uncertain. Etymonline…

It is borrowed from Latin tertiārius (“of the third part or rank”), formed from tertius (“third”) with the suffix -ārius, English -ary. The Latin ordinal is from the root of trēs (“three”), and is…

It is borrowed from Middle French toilette (“a cloth; a bag for clothes”), a diminutive of toile (“cloth, net”) (see toil and toile).

It is a noun of action from the verb transport, formed, according to Merriam-Webster, from Latin transportātus, past participle of trānsportō “to carry across”, and the English suffix -ion.

It is borrowed from Middle French uniforme and directly borrowed from Latin ūniformis (“having only one form or shape”), from ūni- “one” (see uni-) and forma “form” (see form). The noun is from…

It is formed from English urgent + -ency, while Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com and Klein have it borrowed from Late Latin urgentia (“pressure”). The OED allows either origin, and Etymonline thinks…

It is of unknown origin. Etymonline gives wadde from the early 15th century. The word corresponds in form and early meaning to Medieval Latin wadda (“wadding”), recorded in Anglo-Latin in 1380, and…

It is partly borrowed from Middle French abdomen, recorded in 1537 in the French text that the first English quotation translates, and partly a direct borrowing of its source, borrowed from Latin…

It is borrowed from Latin anterior (“earlier, previous”), partly also borrowed from Middle French anterieur, now antérieur. Barnhart thinks the Latin source more likely than the French one. The…

It is borrowed from French astringent, from Latin astringēns, the present participle of astringō (“to bind fast, tighten, contract”), from ad- (“to”) and stringō (“to draw tight, bind”)…

It is borrowed from Latin basilica (“public hall; building of a court of justice”), from Ancient Greek βασιλική (basilikḗ), short for βασιλικὴ στοά (basilikḕ stoá, “royal portico”) or βασιλικὴ οἰκία…

It is probably a variant of the obsolete bought, a bend, curve or loop (1468, earlier Middle English bught, before 1400), perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *buht, a variant of byht, a bend (see…

It is borrowed from Middle French capture (“a taking”), from Latin captūra (“a taking, especially of animals”), from captus, the past participle of capiō (“to take, seize”), from Proto-Indo-European…

It is borrowed from Middle French cavité, from Late Latin cavitās (“hollowness”), from cavus (“hollow”), from Proto-Indo-European *keue- (“to swell; vault, hole”). Hoad, the Oxford Dictionary of…