English words first recorded in the 8th century

It is inherited from Middle English lepen, inherited from Old English hlēapan (“to jump, run, leap”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaupanan, cognate with Old Frisian hlāpa (“to run”), Old Saxon hlōpan…

It is inherited from Middle English lernen, inherited from Old English leornian (“to get knowledge, be cultivated; to study”), from Proto-Germanic *liznōjanan, with a base sense “to follow or find…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English leven, inherited from Old English lǣfan (“to let remain; to bequeath”), from Proto-Germanic *laibjanan, a causative of the verb meaning “to remain” seen…

It is inherited from Middle English le, earlier leohe, inherited from Old English hlēo (“shelter, cover, protection”), from Proto-Germanic *hlewaz, which is also the source of Old Saxon hleo, Old…

It is inherited from Middle English lenden, an alteration of earlier lenen, inherited from Old English lǣnan (“to lend, grant temporarily”), from lǣn (“loan, gift”) (see loan), from Proto-Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle English lesse, earlier læsse (about 1125), inherited from Old English lǣs (“less (adverb)”) and lǣssa (“less, smaller (adjective)”), which fused in Middle English. Both…

1. The verb meaning “to allow” is inherited from Middle English leten, inherited from Old English lǣtan (Anglian lētan) “to allow, leave behind, bequeath, rent”, from Proto-Germanic *lētaną. Its…

1. It is inherited from Middle English lien, liggen, inherited from Old English licgan (“to be situated, remain, be at rest, lie down”), from Proto-Germanic *legjan, the source also of Old Frisian…

It is inherited from Middle English lif, inherited from Old English līf, from Proto-Germanic *lībą. It is cognate with Old Frisian līf (“life, body, person”), Old Saxon līf, Middle Dutch lijf, Old…

1. The light that lets us see is inherited from Middle English liht, inherited from Old English lēoht (“light, daylight; spiritual illumination”) (Anglian lēht), from Proto-Germanic *leukhtam, from…

1. The adjective meaning similar is inherited from Middle English lik, a shortening of ilik, also iliche, inherited from Old English gelīc (“like, similar”), and partly borrowed from Old Norse líkr…

1. The body part is inherited from Middle English lim, inherited from Old English lim (“limb, part of the body, branch of a tree”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *limuz. It is cognate with Old Norse…

It is inherited from Middle English litel, lutel, inherited from Old English lȳtel (“small; not much; short”), from Proto-Germanic *lutilla-, perhaps originally a diminutive of the root of Old…

The verb is inherited from Middle English liven, earlier lifen, inherited from Old English lifian (Anglian) and libban (West Saxon), from Proto-Germanic *libejanan, from a Germanic root *lib- (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English lode, lade, inherited from Old English lād (“way, course, journey; carrying, support”), from Proto-Germanic *laidō, also the source of Old High German leita and…

1. The bread is inherited from Middle English lof, also laf, inherited from Old English hlāf (“bread, loaf”), from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz, the common Germanic word for bread. Its cognates are Old…

1. The adjective is inherited from Middle English long, also lang in the earlier manuscripts and in northern dialects, inherited from Old English lang, long, from Proto-Germanic *langaz. Its…

It is inherited from Middle English loverd, later lord, inherited from Old English hlāford (“master of a household, ruler, superior”), a contraction of earlier hlāfweard, literally “loaf-keeper”…

It is inherited from Middle English lore, also lare and loor, inherited from Old English lār (“learning, teaching, knowledge, doctrine”), from Proto-Germanic *laizō, a West Germanic formation…

It is inherited from Middle English losen (“to be lost, perish”), inherited from Old English losian (“to be lost, perish”), from los (“destruction, loss”), from Proto-Germanic *lausa-, the source…

It is inherited from Middle English loud, earlier lude, inherited from Old English hlūd (“noisy, sounding”), from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz (“heard”), also the source of Old Frisian and Old Saxon hlūd…

It is inherited from Middle English lust, inherited from Old English lust (“desire, appetite; pleasure”), from Proto-Germanic *lustuz. Its cognates are Old Saxon lust, Old Frisian lust, Dutch lust…

It is inherited from Middle English main, inherited from Old English mægen (“power, bodily strength, force”), from Proto-Germanic *maginą (“power”), formed from the Germanic base meaning “to have…

It is inherited from Middle English man, inherited from Old English mann, also man and mon, plural menn, from Proto-Germanic *mann-. It has cognates in every Germanic language, among them Old…

It is inherited from Middle English mani, also moni and meni, inherited from Old English manig, also monig, mænig and menig, from Proto-Germanic *managaz. It is cognate with Old Frisian manich, Old…

It is inherited from Middle English mersh, inherited from Old English mersc (“marsh, swamp”) (also merisc), from Proto-Germanic *mariskō, cognate with Old Frisian mersk, Old Saxon mersk, Middle…

1. The ship's pole is inherited from Middle English mast, inherited from Old English mæst, which goes back through Proto-West Germanic *mast to Proto-Germanic *mastaz (“mast, sail-pole”). It is…

It is inherited from Middle English matte, inherited from Old English matte, borrowed from Late Latin matta (“mat of rushes”), probably from Punic or Phoenician, compare Biblical Hebrew מִטָּה…

1. The drink is inherited from Middle English mede, inherited from Old English medu, also meodu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *meduz, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰu (“honey; honey wine”). It is…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English menen, inherited from Old English mǣnan (“to mean, tell, intend”), from Proto-West Germanic *mainijan. Its cognates are Old Frisian mēna (“to signify”)…

It is inherited from Middle English mete, inherited from Old English mete (“food, nourishment; an item of food; a meal”), from Proto-Germanic *mati, the source also of Old Frisian and Old Saxon…

1. To come together is inherited from Middle English meten, inherited from Old English mētan (“to find, come upon, encounter”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtijaną, a derivative of the noun that gave Old…

It is a fusion of two Old English verbs: inherited from Old English meltan (“to become liquid”) (about 725, in Beowulf), a strong verb, and Anglian gemæltan, West Saxon gemyltan, to make liquid…

1. The verb for measuring and allotting is inherited from Middle English meten, inherited from Old English metan (“to measure”), past tense mæt, past participle meten, from Proto-Germanic *metaną…

It is inherited from Middle English mid, midde, inherited from Old English midd (“middle”), from Proto-Germanic *medja-, the source also of Old Saxon middi, Old Frisian midde, Old High German mitti…

It is Middle English mild, milde, inherited from Old English milde (“gentle, merciful, gracious”), from Proto-Germanic *milþjaz, source also of Old Norse mildr, which also contributed to the English…

It is inherited from Middle English mynd, a shortening of imynd, inherited from Old English gemynd (“memory, remembrance; thought, intention”), from Proto-Germanic *ga-mundiz, formed with the prefix…

1. The pronoun is inherited from Middle English min, inherited from Old English mīn (“mine, my”), from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz, the source also of Old Saxon and Old High German mīn, Dutch mijn, German…

1. To fail to hit is inherited from Middle English missen, inherited from Old English missan (“to fail to hit, miss a mark; escape notice”), probably reinforced by the cognate Old Norse missa (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English mist, inherited from Old English mist (“dimness, mist”), from Proto-Germanic *mihstaz. It is cognate with Middle Low German mist, Dutch mist, Icelandic mistur and…

1. The open upland is inherited from Middle English mor, also more, inherited from Old English mōr (“moor, marsh, waste land”), from Proto-Germanic *mōraz. Its cognates mostly mean "marsh" or "fen"…

It is inherited from Middle English more, earlier mare, inherited from Old English māra (“greater, more, stronger, mightier”), used as the comparative of micel (“great”), the source of mickle and…

It is inherited from Middle English moder, inherited from Old English mōdor, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr, from Proto-Indo-European *māter- (“mother”). Its Germanic cognates include Old Saxon mōdar…

It is inherited from Middle English mornen, also murnen and mournen, inherited from Old English murnan (“to mourn, be sad, be anxious”), a strong verb (past tense mearn) that already had weak forms…

It is inherited from Middle English morthre, murthre, murdre, inherited from Old English morðor (“secret killing, unlawful killing; mortal sin; torment”), from Proto-Germanic *murthran, from a…

1. The verb is inherited from Middle English moste, inherited from Old English mōste, the past tense of mōtan (“to be allowed, be able, have to”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtaną. Its cognates are Old…

It is Middle English nail, inherited from Old English nægel, nægl (“fingernail; metal peg”), from Proto-Germanic *naglaz, cognate with Dutch nagel, German Nagel and Old Norse nagl, from PIE…

It is inherited from Middle English naked, inherited from Old English nacod, from Proto-Germanic *nakwadaz, the source also of Dutch naakt, German nackt and Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌵𐌰𐌸𐍃 (naqaþs), from…

The noun is inherited from Middle English name, inherited from Old English nama, noma (“name, reputation”), from Proto-Germanic *namô, from Proto-Indo-European *no-men- (“name”). Its Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle English ner, which continues inherited from Old English nēar (“closer, nearer”), the comparative of nēah (“near”), modern nigh, and was partly borrowed from Old Norse nær…

It is inherited from Old English nǣdl (about 700, in the earliest glossaries), from *nēþlō, cognate with Old Saxon nāthla, Dutch naald, German Nadel, Old Norse nál and Gothic 𐌽𐌴𐌸𐌻𐌰 (nēþla). It is…

It is inherited from Middle English never, also nevere, inherited from Old English nǣfre, formed from Old English ne (“not”) + ǣfre (“ever”). The negative particle is traced to Proto-Indo-European…

It is inherited from Middle English newe, also neue, inherited from Old English nīwe, also nēowe and nīowe, from Proto-Germanic *niwjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *néwos, also *néwyos. Its Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle English nexte, neste, inherited from Old English nīehsta (“nearest”) (West Saxon), nēhsta, nēsta (Anglian), the superlative of nēah (“near”) (see nigh), from the Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle English nigh, also neigh and neih, inherited from Old English nēah in West Saxon and Kentish and nēh in Anglian, inherited from Proto-Germanic *nēhw. Its cognates are Old…

It is inherited from Middle English night, niht, inherited from Old English niht (“night; darkness”), West Saxon neaht, Anglian næht, from Proto-Germanic *nahts, from Proto-Indo-European *nekwt-…

1. The negative adverb and reply is inherited from Middle English no, also na, inherited from Old English nā, also nō, formed from Old English ne (“not”) + ā (“ever”), so literally "not ever…

It is inherited from Old English nōn (“the ninth hour from sunrise, about 3 p.m.; the office of nones”), from Latin nōna hōra (“ninth hour”), from nōna, the feminine of nōnus (“ninth”), from novem…

It is inherited from Middle English north, inherited from Old English norþ (“northwards, to the north”), from Proto-Germanic *nurtha-, which is of uncertain origin. Etymonline, Barnhart and Klein…

It is inherited from Middle English nou, also nu, inherited from Old English nū (“at the present time, immediately; now that”), from Proto-Germanic *nu, from Proto-Indo-European *nu (“now”). It is…