English words first recorded in the 9th century

It is inherited from Middle English iland, yland, inherited from Old English īegland, īgland, from Old English īeg (“island”) + land (“land”). Old English īeg is from Proto-Germanic *aujō (“thing on…

It is inherited from Old English gecyndelīc (“natural, innate, lawful”), cyndelīc, from gecynd, nature, kind (see kind), and -līc (see -ly). The adverb is Old English gecyndelīce, naturally.

It is inherited from Old English lifer, from Proto-Germanic *librō, source also of Old Norse lifr, Old Frisian livere, Dutch lever and German Leber, perhaps from PIE Proto-Indo-European *leip- (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English mone, inherited from Old English mōna, from Proto-Germanic *menon-, the source also of Old Saxon and Old High German māno, Old Norse máni, Dutch maan, German Mond…

It is inherited from Middle English narwe, inherited from Old English nearu (“narrow, constricted, oppressive”), from Proto-West Germanic *narwu, also the source of Old Saxon naru and Dutch naar…

It is inherited from Middle English nothing, earlier nathing, inherited from Old English nāþing, also written as two words nān þing, a compound, from Old English nān (“not one, no”) + þing…

It is inherited from Middle English otherwise, oþre wise, from the Old English phrase on ōþre wīsan (“in another manner”), from ōþer, the source of other, and wīse (“way, manner”), the source of the…

It is inherited from Middle English aghen, owen, inherited from Old English āgan (“to have, own”) (past tense āhte), from Proto-Germanic *aiganan, to possess, source also of Old Norse eiga, Old High…

It is inherited from Middle English seil, inherited from Old English segl (“sail, veil, curtain”), from Proto-Germanic *seglom, source also of Old Norse segl, Dutch zeil and German Segel, of obscure…

It is inherited from Middle English seolke, silk, inherited from Old English sioloc (“silk, silken cloth”), seolc, cognate with Old Norse silki, Old Prussian silkas, Lithuanian šilkai and Old Church…

It is inherited from Middle English southren, inherited from Old English sūþerne, formed from sūþ, “south”, and the suffix -erne, which denotes direction. It is a common Germanic compound, found…

It is inherited from Middle English spoke, spake, inherited from Old English spāca (“spoke of a wheel, radius”), related to Old English spīcing “large nail”, from Proto-Germanic *spaikōn, also the…

1. The stalk is Middle English stemme, inherited from Old English stemn (“trunk of a tree; end-post of a ship”), also stefn, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz, with a parallel form *stamnaz seen in Old…

It is inherited from Middle English techen, inherited from Old English tǣċan (“to show, point out, declare; to give instruction”) (past tense tǣhte), from Proto-Germanic *taikijan (“to show”), the…

It is inherited from Middle English thikke, inherited from Old English þicce (“dense, solid; numerous”), from Proto-Germanic *thiku-, the source also of Dutch dik, German dick and Old Norse þykkr…

It is inherited from Middle English thresshewold, inherited from Old English þrescold (“doorsill, point of entering”), þerscwald, a word of uncertain origin, probably much altered by folk etymology…

It is inherited from Middle English tol, tool, inherited from Old English tōl (“instrument, implement; weapon”), from Proto-Germanic *tōwalan (“implement”), also the source of Old Norse tól, from a…

It is inherited from Middle English towardes, inherited from Old English tōweardes, from tōweard (“coming, facing, approaching”), the source of toward, with the adverbial genitive ending -es, as in…

It is inherited from Middle English twelve, inherited from Old English twelf, from Proto-Germanic *twalif, a compound of *twa- “two” (see two) and *lif- “left over”, from the root of leave, so…

It is inherited from Middle English understanden, inherited from Old English understandan (“to comprehend, grasp the idea of”), a compound, from Old English under- + standan (“to stand”). Barnhart…

It is inherited from Middle English warme, inherited from Old English wearm (“moderately hot”), from Proto-Germanic *warmaz, which is also the source of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch and German…

1. The plant is Middle English wede, inherited from Old English wēod (“grass, herb, weed”), from Proto-Germanic *weud-, a word of unknown origin, cognate with Old Saxon wiod, Middle Dutch wiet and…

It is inherited from Middle English whele, inherited from Old English hwēol, hweogol, from Proto-Germanic *hwewlą, from Proto-Indo-European *kwekwlo- (“wheel, circle”), a reduplicated form of the…

It is inherited from Middle English wurrshipe, worschipe, inherited from Old English weorþscipe (“condition of being worthy, honour, renown”), Anglian worþscip, from Old English weorþ (“worthy…

It is inherited from Middle English writere, inherited from Old English wrītere (“one who can write; clerk, scribe, copyist”), an agent noun from wrītan (“to write”) with -ere. It is related to write.

It is inherited from Middle English grove, inherited from Old English grāf (“grove, copse, small wood”), related to grǣfa (“brushwood, thicket”), and perhaps to Norwegian greivla (“to branch out”)…

1. It is inherited from Old English canon (“rule, decree of the Church”), from Late Latin canon (“Church law”), in classical Latin a measuring line, rule, reinforced in Middle English by Old French…

It is inherited from Middle English northerne, inherited from Old English norþerne (“northern, Northumbrian, Scandinavian”), formed from north and the suffix -erne, which denotes direction. It is…

It is inherited from Middle English stol, also stool, inherited from Old English stōl (“seat for one person; throne”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *stōlaz. It is cognate with Old Frisian stōl, Old…

It is inherited from Middle English tunge, inherited from Old English tunge (“tongue; speech, language”), from Proto-Germanic *tungōn, which also gave Old Saxon and Old Norse tunga, Dutch tong…

It is inherited from Old English tūnscipe (“the inhabitants of a town”), from tūn, town (see town), and -scipe (see -ship).

It is inherited from Middle English wrestlen, also wrastlen, inherited from Old English *wrǣstlian, the frequentative of wrǣstan (“to twist, wrest”), the source of wrest, with the suffix -le. The…

It is inherited from Middle English baken, inherited from Old English bacan, from Proto-Germanic *bakanan, cognate with Old High German bahhan, Old Norse baka, Dutch bakken and German backen. It…

1. The flame is inherited from Middle English blase, also blēse, inherited from Old English blæse (“torch, firebrand; flame”), also blase, a weak feminine noun, inherited from Proto-Germanic *blasǭ…

It is inherited from Middle English breth, inherited from Old English brǣþ (“odour, scent, exhalation, vapour”), from Proto-Germanic *brēþaz (“smell, exhalation”), also the source of Old High German…

It is inherited from Middle English cloude, inherited from Old English clūd (“mass of rock, hill”), probably related to clod and clot. Barnhart and MWU relate it to Ancient Greek γλουτός (gloutós)…

1. The word for a small house is inherited from Middle English cot, also cote, inherited from Old English cot (“cottage, house, bed-chamber, den”), plural cotu. Old English also had cote in the same…

It is inherited from Middle English crafti, inherited from Old English cræftig (“strong, powerful; skilful”), formed from cræft (“strength; skill”), the source of craft, and the suffix -ig, modern…

It is inherited from Old English dæl (“valley, gorge”) (before 899, in Alfred's Orosius), from *dalaz, cognate with Old Saxon and Dutch dal, German Tal, Old Norse dalr and Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌻 (dal). Barnhart…

It is partly inherited from Old English epistol, pistol, from Latin, and partly inherited from Middle English epistle, epistel, borrowed from Old French epistle, epistre (modern French épître), from…

It is inherited from Middle English fissher, inherited from Old English fiscere (“fisherman; kingfisher”), an agent noun from the verb fish, with similar formations in Old Norse fiskari, Dutch…

It is inherited from Old English ford, from Proto-Germanic *furdu-, from Proto-Indo-European *prtu- (“a going, a passage”), from the root *per- “to lead, pass over”. Old Frisian forda, Old High…

It is inherited from Middle English fresh, fersh, inherited from Old English fersc (“not salt, unsalted, of water”), from Proto-Germanic *friskaz, the source also of Old Frisian fersk, Dutch vers…

It is inherited from Middle English herien, inherited from Old English hergian (“to make war, lay waste, plunder”), from Proto-Germanic *harjōną, which is also the source of Old Frisian urheria “to…

It is inherited from Middle English himself, inherited from Old English him selfum, the dative of hē self, formed from him and selfum, the dative of self, here used as an inflected adjective. The…

It is inherited from Middle English kniht, inherited from Old English cniht (“boy, youth, servant”), from Proto-West Germanic *knehtą, of unknown origin, cognate with Old Frisian kniucht, Dutch…

It is inherited from Middle English lengthe, inherited from Old English lengþu, from Proto-Germanic *langiþō, an abstract noun from *langaz (“long”), the source of long, and the suffix -th. It is…

It is inherited from Middle English utward, later outward, inherited from Old English ūtweard, which merged with two other Old English words, ūteweard and the older ūtanweard. All three were formed…

It is inherited from Middle English sixti, inherited from Old English sixtig, also siextig, from siex (“six”) (see six) and -tig (“group of ten”) (see -ty). Similar formations are Old Norse sextugr…

It is inherited from Middle English southward, also southewarde and early suðward, inherited from Old English sūþweard, formed from Old English sūþ + -weard. The OED compares Old Frisian sūthwird…

1. It is inherited from Old English staca (“stake, post”), from Proto-Germanic *stakōn, source also of Old Norse stiaki, Middle Dutch stake and Dutch staak, from PIE Proto-Indo-European *steg-…

It is inherited from Middle English talent, talente, which in the sense of a weight or sum of money is inherited from Old English talente, borrowed from Latin talenta, the plural of talentum “unit…

It is inherited from Middle English treuthe, inherited from Old English trēowþ (“faith, fidelity, loyalty; pledge”), West Saxon trīewþ, from trēowe (“faithful, true”), the source of true, with the…

It is inherited from Middle English twenti, inherited from Old English twēntiġ (“group of twenty”), a contraction of *twēgentig, from twēgen “two” and -tiġ “group of ten”, the suffix -ty. The first…

It is inherited from Middle English undernethe, inherited from Old English underneoþan, from under and neoþan, below (see beneath).

It is inherited from Middle English undon, inherited from Old English undōn, also ondōn and andōn, formed from Old English un- + dōn (“to do”), with the prefix expressing reversal. The OED counts it…

It is inherited from Old English hwæl (before 899, in Alfred's Orosius), from *hwalaz, cognate with Old Saxon hwal, Dutch walvis, German Wal, Walfisch, and Old Norse hvalr; Barnhart derives it from…

It is inherited from Middle English withouten, withoute, inherited from Old English wiþūtan (“outside of, from outside”), formed from Old English wiþ (“against, with”) + ūtan (“from outside”) (see…

1. The group of animals or people is inherited from Middle English flok, inherited from Old English flocc (“band, company, troop”), from Proto-Germanic *flukkaz. It is cognate with Old Norse flokkr…

It is inherited from Middle English above (also aboven), inherited from Old English abufan, reduced from earlier onbufan (“above, in or to a higher place”), formed from on (“on”) and bufan (“over”)…