English words first recorded in the 9th century

It is inherited from Middle English forward, inherited from Old English foreweard (“toward the front; early; superior”), from fore- and -ward, or a variant of Old English forþweard (“onwards”), from…

It is inherited from Middle English furlong, inherited from Old English furlang (“length of a furrow”), a compound of furh (“furrow”) (see furrow) and lang (“long”) (see long).

It is inherited from Middle English Greke, inherited from Old English Grēcas (“the Greeks”), earlier Crēcas, borrowed from Latin Graecus, plural Graecī, from Ancient Greek Γραικός (Graikós), plural…

It is inherited from Old English handbōc (“handbook, manual”), a compound of hand and bōc (“book”), translating Latin manuālis; the modern word was reintroduced in 1814 in imitation of German…

It is inherited from Middle English heighthe, inherited from Old English hīehþu, Anglian hēhþu “highest part, summit; heaven”, from Proto-Germanic *hauhiþō, formed from the root of hēah “high” and…

It is inherited from Middle English ich, also i, inherited from Old English ic, from Proto-Germanic *ek, a form that Ayto and Hoad write *eka, from Proto-Indo-European *eg- (“I”), the nominative of…

It is inherited from Middle English into, inherited from Old English intō, formed from Old English in + tō, the adverb in and the preposition to. The two were originally separate words, as in "out…

1. The worm is inherited from Middle English leche, inherited from Old English lǣce, Kentish lȳce, with a relative in Middle Dutch lieke (also lake), of unknown origin. It is commonly taken as a…

1. The noun is a Middle English merger of two words of the same origin: inherited from Old English līne (“rope, cord; row, series”), probably an early Germanic borrowing from Latin, and ligne (about…

It is inherited from Middle English letanie, later reshaped after the Latin, borrowed from Old French letanie, Medieval Latin letania, from Late Latin litanīa, from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (litaneía…

1. The female horse is inherited from Middle English mare, also mere, inherited from Old English mȳre and, in Mercian, mēre, from Proto-Germanic *marhijō, a feminine derivative of *marhaz (“horse”)…

1. The modal verb is inherited from Middle English mai, the first and third person singular of mouen, inherited from Old English mæg (“am able”), the same form of magan (“to be strong, be able”)…

It is inherited from Middle English mid-niht, midnight, inherited from Old English midniht, also middre niht, with the dative of the adjective, from Old English midd (“middle”) + niht (“night”) (see…

It is inherited from Middle English milk, mylc, inherited from Old English meoluc (West Saxon), milc (Anglian), from Proto-Germanic *meluk- (“milk”), from *melk- “to milk”, from Proto-Indo-European…

1. It is inherited from Middle English mod, mood, inherited from Old English mōd (“mind, heart, spirit; courage, pride”), from Proto-Germanic *mōda-, the source also of Dutch moed and German Mut…

It is inherited from Middle English mourning, also morning, inherited from Old English murnung (“complaint, grief, act of lamenting”), the verbal noun of murnan (“to mourn, be sad”), the source of…

It is inherited from Middle English nynthe, an alteration, under the influence of nine, of nithe, inherited from Old English nigoþa (“ninth”), nigoða, from nigon, nine; compare seventh. Klein…

It is Old English and Middle English fenix, partly borrowed from Old French fenix, from Latin phoenix, from Ancient Greek φοῖνιξ (phoînix, “phoenix, date palm, Phoenician, crimson”), of unknown…

It is inherited from Middle English pope, inherited from Old English pāpa, borrowed from Latin pāpa (“bishop, pope”) (in classical Latin “tutor”), from Ancient Greek πάπας (pápas, “patriarch…

It is inherited from Middle English provost, also provest and prevost, inherited from Old English profost, also prafost, borrowed from Medieval Latin prōpositus (“prior, abbot; reeve”), an…

It is inherited from Middle English riche, inherited from Old English rīċe (“strong, powerful, mighty, of high rank, wealthy”), fused with Old French riche (“wealthy, magnificent, sumptuous”)…

1. The stack is Middle English reke, reek, inherited from Old English hrēac, from Proto-Germanic *hraukaz, which also gave Old Norse hraukr, Frisian reak and Dutch rook “heap”; it is perhaps related…

It is inherited from Middle English rof, inherited from Old English hrōf (“roof, ceiling; top, summit; the sky”), from Proto-Germanic *khrofam, also the source of Old Frisian hrōf, Dutch roef…

It is inherited from Middle English selden, later seldom, inherited from Old English seldan (“rarely”), also seldon and seldum. The form seldum arose by analogy with adverbs that were dative…

It is inherited from Middle English seventene, inherited from Old English seofontīene (also seofontȳne), from seofon (“seven”) and -tīene (“-teen”) (see seven and -teen), akin to Old Norse sjautján…

It is inherited from Middle English schade, inherited from Old English sceadu (“partial darkness; shelter, protection”), from Proto-Germanic *skadwaz, source also of Dutch schaduw, German Schatten…

It is inherited from Middle English schadewe, shadwe, inherited from Old English sceadwe, sceaduwe, the oblique case forms of sceadu “shade”, from Proto-Germanic *skaðwaz, the source also of Dutch…

It is inherited from Middle English shilling, inherited from Old English scilling, also scylling, from Proto-Germanic *skillingaz, a common Germanic word. Its cognates are Old Frisian skilling, Old…

It is inherited from Middle English sixtene, inherited from Old English sixtȳne, also siextīene, from siex (“six”) (see six) and -tȳne, from tȳn (“ten”) (see -teen and ten). Similar formations are…

It is inherited from Middle English sixte, inherited from Old English siexta, syxte, from siex (“six”), with the ending later changed to match -th. Old Frisian sexta, Old High German sehsto and…

It is inherited from Middle English spanne, inherited from Old English span (“distance between the thumb and little finger of an extended hand”), spann, reinforced from about 1300 by Old French…

It is inherited from Middle English stepmoder, inherited from Old English stēopmōdor, inherited from Proto-Germanic *steupamōdēr, a compound of Proto-Germanic *steupaz and *mōdēr. The OED calls it a…

It is inherited from Middle English strecchen, inherited from Old English streccan (“to stretch out, prostrate”), from Proto-Germanic *strakjaną, which also gave Dutch strekken and German strecken…

It is inherited from Middle English thrittene, inherited from Old English þrēotēne (Mercian, West Saxon þrēotīene), from þrēo (“three”) and -tēne (“-teen”) (see three and -teen). Similar formations…

It is inherited from Middle English uneven, inherited from Old English unefen (“unequal, unlike, irregular”), formed from Old English un- (“not”) + efen (“even”). The same formation appears in Old…

It is inherited from Middle English vers, partly from Old English fers, an early borrowing of Latin, partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman vers (“line of verse; rhyme, song”), Old French vers, from…

It is inherited from Middle English washen, inherited from Old English wascan, wæscan (“to cleanse, bathe”), from Proto-Germanic *watskan, the source also of Dutch wassen and German waschen, formed…

It is inherited from Middle English wedden (“to pledge; to marry”), inherited from Old English weddian (“to engage, covenant; to betroth, marry”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *wadjōną (“to…

It is inherited from Middle English writ, inherited from Old English writ (“something written, a writing”), from Proto-Germanic *writą, formed from the past participle stem of wrītan (“to write”)…

It is inherited from Middle English yeer, also yere, inherited from Old English ġēar in West Saxon and ġēr in Anglian, inherited from Proto-Germanic *jērą. It is cognate with Old Frisian jēr, Old…