French words first recorded in the 10th century

It is inherited from Old French ou, inherited from Latin aut (“or”), a disjunctive conjunction distinguishing two things or ideas of which one excludes the other, often doubled as “aut… aut” “either…

It is inherited from Old French parler, inherited from Late Latin parabolāre, a verb of Church Latin (7th century) derived from parabola, which in the Gospel sense “parable of Christ”, then “word of…

It is inherited from Old French tu, inherited from Latin tū (“you (singular)”), in the nominative and vocative. The Latin pronoun is an Indo-European word, found in Old Church Slavonic ты (ty), Old…

It is inherited from Old French vostre, inherited from Latin voster (“your”), an archaic and popular form of vester, perhaps remade after noster (“our”) and vōs (“you”). The form “voster” is found…

It is inherited from Old French umbre, inherited from Latin umbra (“shadow; shade; ghost; semblance”). Rey finds plausible a link with Sanskrit अन्धस् (ándhas, “darkness”), Wiktionary suggests an…

It is inherited from Old French plorer, inherited from Latin plōrō (“to cry out, lament”), an expressive word of popular Latin for which no convincing cognate has been found. Distinct from lacrimō…

It is inherited from Latin tālis (“of such a kind, such”), a demonstrative of quality used in correlation with quālis (see quel). Rey notes that “tālis” contains the Indo-European demonstrative stem…

It is inherited from Old French amic, inherited from Latin amīcus (“friend, (of a woman) lover”), from amō (“to love”) (see aimer). In Latin “amīcus” meant a friend, also a lover, and a political…

It is inherited from Old French aprendre, inherited from Vulgar Latin *apprendō, a contracted form of classical apprehendō (“to seize; to grasp with the mind”), from ad- and prehendō (“to take…

It is borrowed from Proto-West Germanic *blank (“shining, bright”), a West Germanic adjective reconstructed from Old High German blanc (“shining, white”), Old Norse blakkr (“pale”) and Old English…

It is inherited from Old French celui, inherited from Vulgar Latin *ecce illui, the dative of “ecce ille”, formed from Latin ecce (“behold”) and ille (“that”). The ending “-ui” follows the pattern…

It is inherited from Old French conte, inherited from Latin comes (“companion; member of an emperor's retinue”), through its accusative case. The Latin subject case gave Old French cuens, later…

It is inherited from Old French croiz, inherited from Latin crux (“cross, gibbet; torment”), through its accusative crucem. The Latin word named several instruments of execution: the stake, the…

It is inherited from Old French deus, inherited from Latin duōs (“two”), the masculine accusative plural of “duo”. The Old French subject form “dui”, “doi” comes from popular “*duī”, and the…

It is inherited from Old French don, inherited from Latin dōnum (“act of giving; gift, present, offering”). The Latin noun is derived from dō (“to give”), the source of date and datif. Littré…

It is inherited from Old French entrer, inherited from Latin intrō (“to go into, enter”), from intrā (“within”), related to inter (“between”), whence entre. The Latin preposition goes back to…

It is inherited from Old French fils, inherited from Latin fīlius (“son, child”). The modern form is the Old French subject case, kept because it was often used as a vocative, and probably also to…

1. The noun “end” is inherited from Old French fin, inherited from Latin fīnis (“boundary; limit; end; aim”). The Latin word, of unknown origin, first meant the boundary of a field and, in the…

It is inherited from Old French flame, inherited from Latin flamma (“flame, fire”), used literally and figuratively. Rey explains the Latin word as an expressive formation from “flag-ma”, related to…

It is inherited from Old French honor, inherited from Latin honor (“honour paid to gods or men; public office”) (classical “honōs”), a word of obscure origin. Bloch and Wartburg call it a borrowing…

It is the welding, in the 13th century, of Old French “ja mais”, formed from Old French ja (“already, now”) + mais (“more”). The two adverbs continue Latin iam (“already”) and magis (“more”). The…

It is inherited from Old French jorn, inherited from Late Latin diurnum (“day”). In classical Latin “diurnum”, the neuter of the adjective diurnus (“of the day, daily”), was a noun meaning “daily…

It is inherited from Old French langue, inherited from Latin lingua (“tongue; language”), which already had both senses, and the figurative one of a tongue-shaped object. Rey groups the Latin word…

It is inherited from Old French lor, inherited from Latin illōrum (“of those, of them”), the masculine genitive plural of the demonstrative “ille”. Romanian lor shows that the first syllable was…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin labra, the neuter plural of labrum (“lip; edge, rim”) taken as a feminine singular, because the plural was naturally the more frequent form. Rey notes that there is…

It is inherited from Old French lïer, inherited from Latin ligō (“to tie, bind, bandage, fasten, unite”). The regular outcomes of the Latin forms were leier and loier, with a stressed stem loie…

It is inherited from Old French lonc, inherited from Latin longus (“long, extended”). The Latin word, used of both space and time like Ancient Greek μακρός (makrós), is related to Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌲𐍃…

It is inherited from Old French mais, inherited from Latin magis (“more; rather”). “Magis” meant “more”, but unlike plūs, which expressed number and quantity, it usually had the qualitative sense…

It is inherited from Old French naistre, inherited from Vulgar Latin nāscere, for classical nāscī (“to be born; to arise”). The Latin verb was earlier “gnāscī” (compare archaic “gnātus”), from the…

It is inherited from Old French norrir, inherited from Latin nūtriō (“to suckle; to feed, nourish; to sustain”), a verb mostly of the imperial period, beside the older nūtricō (“to suckle”), which…

It is inherited from Old French ou, inherited from Latin ubi (“where; when”), a relative and interrogative adverb of place without motion, also used of time. Latin “ubi” belongs to the group of the…

It continues inherited from Latin perfectus (“finished, complete, perfect”), the past participle used as an adjective of perficiō (“to finish, complete”), from per- and faciō (“to make”). The Latin…

It is inherited from Old French paier, inherited from Latin pācō (“to pacify, make peace”), derived from pāx (“peace”) (see paix). In Late Latin, from the 4th century, the verb took the moral sense…

It is inherited from Old French peine, inherited from Latin poena (“penalty, punishment; pain”), borrowed from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “blood money, fine; punishment”). The Greek word, a legal…

It is inherited from Old French poür, inherited from Latin pavor (“fear, dread”) (accusative “pavōrem”). The Latin noun is from paveō (“to be struck with fear”), Rey suggests the first sense was “to…

It is inherited from Old French pié, inherited from Latin pēs (“foot”) (accusative “pedem”). The Latin word goes back to the Indo-European name of the foot, also in Ancient Greek πούς (poús)…

It is borrowed from Latin prōmittō (“to let go forward; to assure, guarantee; to foretell”), an early borrowing adapted to mettre. The Latin verb is formed of prō- (“forward”) and mittō (“to send”)…

It is inherited from Old French quel, inherited from Latin quālis (“of what kind”). The Latin word, correlative of tālis (whence tel), was used in direct and indirect questions; in late popular…

It is borrowed from Latin rēgnō (“to be king; to rule, dominate”), from rēgnum (“kingship, kingdom”). It was borrowed together with règne, about 980. Wiktionary gives the Old French form as…

It is inherited from Old French revenir, inherited from Latin reveniō (“to come back, return”), formed with re- from veniō (“to come”) (see venir). Rey treats it as a very early borrowing from…

It is borrowed from Latin signum (“mark, token; signal; standard; constellation”). It is a doublet of the popular seing, which it has replaced in most uses. The origin of “signum” is uncertain: it…

It is inherited from Old French sei, inherited from Latin sē (“himself, herself, themselves”), the accusative of the Latin reflexive pronoun, in its stressed position. The unstressed form of the…

It is inherited from Old French tant, inherited from Latin tantum (“so much; only”), the neuter of tantus (“so great”) used as an adverb. Latin “tantus”, from an older “*tam-to-s”, contains, like…

It is inherited from Old French tener, inherited from Vulgar Latin *tenīre, an altered form of classical Latin teneō (“to hold; to occupy; to keep”), perhaps under the influence of “venīre” “to…

It is inherited from Old French vestir, inherited from Latin vestiō (“to clothe; to cover, adorn”), from vestis (“garment, clothing”). The Petit Robert relates the Latin noun to the root of induō…

It is inherited from Latin vīvus (“alive; lively; natural (of water, rock)”), from vīvō (“to live”) (see vivre). The Petit Robert relates it to Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “life”) and Breton bev…

It is inherited from Old French vivre, inherited from Latin vīvō (“to live”). The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *gʷīwō and the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)…

It is borrowed from Latin adōrō (“to address, entreat; to worship”), from ad- and ōrō (“to speak, pray”) (whence oraison). The learned form replaced the inherited “aorer” under the influence of…

It is inherited from Old French aidier, inherited from Latin adiūtō (“to help, assist”), the frequentative of adiuvō (“to help”). The Old French forms “aïer”, “aiue” were remade from adiūtat, the…

It is borrowed from Latin apportō (“to bring, carry to”), an early borrowing first written “aporter”, formed from ad- and portō (“to carry”). Bloch and Wartburg simply give it as from the Latin…

It is inherited from Old French asez, inherited from Vulgar Latin *ad satis, a strengthened form of Latin satis (“enough”). Latin “satis” was used for “much” from early Latin, and very often in Late…

It is inherited from Old French altre, inherited from Latin alterum (“the other (of two)”). Late Latin gave up the classical distinction between alius (“another”) and “alter” “the other of two”…

It is inherited from Latin centum (“hundred; a great number”). Wiktionary traces the Latin word through Proto-Italic to Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm. Rey cites its correspondents Sanskrit शत (śatám)…

It is inherited from Late Latin camisia (“shirt, linen undergarment”), which appeared in the 4th century with the garment it names, and took the sense “cover” in the 12th century. Its first record…

It is borrowed from Latin condemnō (“to declare guilty and sentence; to blame”), already altered to a form with ⟨a⟩ in glosses, formed from intensive com- and damnō (“to condemn”), from damnum…

It is inherited from Latin condūcō (“to lead together, bring together”), formed from con- and dūcō (“to lead”); in popular Latin it took over the senses of the simple verb, “to draw, lead, guide”…

It is borrowed from Latin chorda (“gut string of an instrument; cord”), from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “gut; string of gut”). Rey mentions the hypothesis that the Greek word comes from Hittite…

It is inherited from Old French cort, inherited from Late Latin curtis (“farmyard; manor; royal residence”), recorded from the 6th century, from Latin cohors (“enclosure, yard; division of a camp…

It is inherited from Old French covrir, inherited from Latin cooperiō (“to cover completely; to overwhelm”), formed with the intensive co- and operiō (“to cover”) (see ouvrir). The compound, with…

It is inherited from Old French criembre, inherited from Vulgar Latin *cremō, a Gallo-Roman alteration of Latin tremō (“to tremble; to tremble at, fear”). The initial /k/ is explained by crossing…