English words first recorded in the 17th century

It is inherited from Middle English simperen (“to simmer”), probably of imitative origin, with the consonants assimilated; the older form survived in dialect as simper. Etymonline quotes the OED's…

It is borrowed from New Latin atmosphaera, used by Bishop John Wilkins in 1638 in his book on the Moon, perhaps also influenced by French atmosphère (1665). The New Latin word is from Greek Ancient…

It is formed from English a- (“on”) + top (“highest part”), with the prefix of asleep, aside and afoot, which goes back to Old English an (“on, in”). At first it was written with a space or a…

It is borrowed from Latin culīnārius (“of the kitchen”), perhaps through French culinaire, recorded in Rabelais in 1546; the OED notes the French word in Cotgrave. The Latin adjective is formed from…

It is borrowed from Latin dēvāstātus (“laid waste”), the past participle of dēvāstō (“to lay waste”), from dē-, which the sources read as intensive or as "from, away", and vāstō (“to lay waste”)…

It is borrowed from French floride (“flourishing”) and directly borrowed from Latin flōridus (“flowery, in bloom”), formed with the suffix -id from flōs (“flower”), stem flōr-, and related to flōreō…

It is formed from English in- + action, with the negative prefix. Etymonline suggests that it may have been modelled on French inaction, and the OED compares the French word, recorded from 1647…

It is borrowed from New Latin placenta, recorded in this sense from 1559, in full placenta uterina (“uterine cake”), a name that Etymonline and Klein say the Italian anatomist Realdo Colombo gave it…

It is borrowed from Italian profilo (“a drawing in outline”), now proffilo, from profilare (“to draw in outline”), from pro- (“forth”) and filare (“to spin, draw a line”), from Late Latin fīlō (“to…

It is partly borrowed from French prostate, recorded in Middle French in 1555, and partly from its source, borrowed from New Latin prostata, recorded in 1625. The Latin word renders Ancient Greek…

It is a shortened form of the earlier statical (1560s–1570), from New Latin staticus, statica, from Greek στατικός (statikós, “causing to stand, skilled in weighing”), from στατός (statós), the…

1. The silk is borrowed from French tabis (“a rich watered silk”), from Middle French atabis, Medieval Latin attabī, from Arabic عَتَّابِيّ (ʿattābī), from al-ʿAttābiyya, a quarter of Baghdad where…

It is borrowed from Latin vīvidus (“full of life, animated, lively”), formed on vīvō (“to live”) and vīvus (“alive”) with the adjective suffix that became -id. Barnhart and Etymonline think it came…

It is a compound, from English week + end.

It is borrowed from Latin cōmoedicus (“of comedy, comic”), a word of Apuleius in the 2nd century, from Ancient Greek κωμῳδικός (kōmōidikós, “of comedy”), from κωμῳδία (kōmōidía, “comedy”) and the…

It is formed from English congregation + -al. The noun is from Old French congregacion and Latin congregātiō (“an assembling together, union, society”), a noun of action from congregō (“to herd…

The OED takes it partly as borrowed from Medieval Latin focālis, which in medieval British sources meant having a hearth (1300) or, of wood, used for fuel, and by 1696 also of or relating to a…

It is probably formed from English simple + -ton, the ending of surnames that go back to place names, and it probably began as a humorous surname for a generic character. Barnhart compares the…

It is formed from English skeptic + -al; the British spelling is “sceptical”. The base skeptic comes from French sceptique and Latin scepticus, from Ancient Greek σκεπτικός (skeptikós, “inquiring…

It is borrowed from French belle (“beautiful”), the feminine of beau used as a noun, from Old French bele, feminine of bel (“fine, handsome”), which continues Latin bella, the feminine of bellus…

It was formed from English caution + -ous in English, with the stem of caution and the suffix in the form -ious, as if from a Latin *cautiōsus, which is not recorded. The Shorter Oxford and the…

It is a variant of the earlier concentre (1590s), meeting at a common centre, probably from Italian concentrare or French concentrer, from Latin com-, together, and centrum, centre (see center)…

It is formed from English globe + -al.

It is borrowed from French hôtel (“a mansion, palace, large house”), the later form of Old French ostel, hostel “a lodging”, from Medieval Latin hospitāle (“inn”), from Latin hospes, the source of…

It is formed from independent with -ence, on the pattern of pairs such as competent and competence, and partly after French indépendance.

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin intangibilis, which the OED compares with French intangible, recorded in 1508. Barnhart takes it as probably from Middle French intangible, and Etymonline…

It is formed from English ir- + respective, ir- being the form of the negative prefix in- before r, and respective here in its old sense of "regardful". Respective is from Medieval Latin respectīvus…

It is borrowed from French précision (16th century) and directly from Latin praecīsiō, a cutting off, a noun from praecīdō, to cut off, shorten, from prae-, before, and caedō, to cut (see precise).

It is formed from English relation + -ship.

It was formed from English re- + production, after the verb reproduce. Compare Medieval Latin reproductio, recorded in the 15th century, and French reproduction, used of living things perpetuating…

It is formed from English troop + -er. Troop comes from French troupe, from trope (“band of people, company, troop”), probably from Late Latin troppus (“flock”), whose further origin is uncertain…

It is borrowed from French appartement, 16th century, from Italian appartamento (“a separated place”), from appartare (“to separate, put aside”), from a parte “aside, to the side”, from Latin ad…

It is borrowed from French cascade, from Italian cascata (“waterfall”), from cascare (“to fall”), from Vulgar Latin *casicō, formed from Latin cāsus (“fallen”), the past participle of cadō (“to…

The adjective was formed in the 17th century from English co- + ordinate, as a counterpart to the older subordinate. The OED analyses it as Latin co- with Latin ōrdinātus (“ordered, arranged”), the…

It is formed from English dis- + regard, the verb from the verb and the noun from the noun. Barnhart takes the noun either from the verb or as formed independently in the same way, and Johnson…

It is formed from English em- + power, the noun. It was also spelled impower, with the prefix im-.

It is an alteration, under the influence of the ending -ure, of earlier failer, borrowed from Anglo-Norman failer, the infinitive of the Old French verb faillir (“to be lacking; not succeed”) used…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin homogeneus, with the English suffix -ous, from Ancient Greek ὁμογενής (homogenḗs, “of the same kind or race”), formed from ὁμός (homós, “same”) and γένος (génos…

It is borrowed from Latin impetus (“attack, assault; rapid motion; impulse; violence, force”), from impetō (“to rush upon, attack, assail”), formed from in- (“into, upon”) and petō (“to aim for…

It is formed from English in- + active, with in- meaning not. The OED compares the earlier unactive and the slightly earlier inactivity, and Etymonline suggests that the adjective may be a…

It is borrowed from Latin incubō (“to lie on, hatch”), from its past participle incubātus or the participial stem incubāt-, more commonly incubit-, with the English ending -ate. The Latin verb is…

It is formed from English intimate + -acy, from the adjective intimate. Johnson (1755) also derived it from intimate. The adjective comes from Late Latin intimātus, the past participle of intimō…

It is formed from English legislator + -ive, or from legislation and legislator with the suffix -ative, after French législatif.

It is borrowed from Late Latin praedictor (“one who foretells, prophet”), recorded in post-classical Latin from the 5th century, and called Medieval Latin by Etymonline and Merriam-Webster. It is an…

Most dictionaries take it as formed from English sarcasm + -ic, on the model of pairs such as enthusiasm and enthusiastic. The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford derive it instead…

It is formed from English un- + precedent + -ed, that is, the negative prefix with precedented, the participle of a verb precedent that survives only in these adjectives. The OED notes that the…

It is a shortening of whim-wham, a fanciful object or trifle, though the OED, the Shorter Oxford, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English call its origin uncertain or unknown. Barnhart and…

Its origin is uncertain. One view, found in the OED and Barnhart, takes it from a Scandinavian source, comparing Swedish basa (“to baste, whip, flog”) and Danish baske (“to beat, strike, cudgel”)…

It is formed from English comply + -ant, probably on the model of pliant, or of words such as defiant. Ayto calls it an English development. The verb comply came into use about 1600 from Italian…

It is borrowed from French continueus or directly borrowed from Latin continuus (“joining, connecting; uninterrupted”) and -ous, from continēre (“to hang together”) (see contain), from con-…

It is borrowed from Latin daemonicus (“of or belonging to a demon or evil spirit”), a word Klein and Merriam-Webster place in Late Latin and the OED first finds in Tertullian in the late 2nd…

It is borrowed from Latin lineāris (“belonging to a line”), perhaps through French linéaire, from linea (“string, line”) (see line).

It is borrowed from French neutraliser, formed from neutral and -iser; in French it meant "to remain neutral" from 1564, "to make chemically neutral" from 1776 and "to render inoffensive" from 1789…

It is an anglicized form of French pendant (“during; literally hanging”), the present participle of pendre, to hang, with the English ending -ing. The use is modelled on Latin pendente, hanging…

It is borrowed from French recrute, an obsolete dialect (Picardy or Hainault) variant of recrue (“a levy; literally new growth”), the past participle of recreistre (“to grow again”) (recroître)…

It is formed from English side + bar.

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin subversivus, a post-classical Latin adjective recorded from the 13th century and in a British source in 1437, formed from Latin subversus, the past participle of…

Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from Medieval Latin aqueus (“watery”), from Latin aqua (“water”), with the English suffix -ous. Barnhart thinks the Medieval Latin adjective was probably formed…

The noun is probably a back-formation from correlation and correlative, or, as the OED explains it, a compound of cor- and relātum (“a thing referred, related”), suggested by the older English…

It is formed from English discretion + -ary. Discretion, recorded from about 1300, is from Old French discrecion and directly from Late Latin discrētiō (“discernment”), which in classical Latin…