French words first recorded in the 10th century

It is inherited from Old French crever, inherited from Latin crepō (“to rattle, crack, burst”). The Latin verb belongs to an expressive group built on the sound “kr-”, as in Ancient Greek κράζω…

It is a deverbal noun from French crier (“to cry, shout”). “Crier” continues a popular Latin Vulgar Latin *crītō, a reduction of Latin quirītō (“to cry out, wail”), of imitative origin, Varro's…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *crītō, a reduced form of Latin quirītō (“to call for help; to protest loudly”). Varro derived “quirītāre” from “Quirītēs” “Roman citizens”, as if it first meant…

It is inherited from Latin dēfendō (“to ward off, repel; to protect”), from dē- and a simple verb “*fendō” “to strike”, found only in compounds (see offense). The sense “to forbid”, found in Late…

It is inherited from Old French defors, inherited from Late Latin dēforis (“from outside; outside”), formed from Latin dē (“from”) and forīs (“out of doors”), which also gave fors. The form “dehors”…

It is inherited from Old French demander, inherited from Latin dēmandō (“to entrust, charge with; to order”), formed with dē- from mandō (“to give in charge, entrust”). In Late Latin it also meant…

It is inherited from Late Latin dē ex, an intensive juxtaposition of the prepositions dē (“from”) and ex (“out of”), both marking a starting point. The attested Late Latin “de ex” rules out the…

It is borrowed from Latin dēscendō (“to go down, come down; to derive from”), an early borrowing (about 980); the Latin verb is formed from dē-, marking downward motion, and scandō (“to climb”) (see…

It is inherited from Old French desoz, inherited from Late Latin dēsubtus (“beneath”), a compound of dē (“from”) and the adverb subtus (“below”), recorded from the 4th century first as a preposition…

It is formed from French de + avant, at first written as a phrase, “de avant”, then welded into “davant” and “devant”. The forms in “de-” appeared early beside those in “da-”, perhaps under the…

It is inherited from Old French devenir, inherited from Latin dēveniō (“to come to, arrive at”), from dē and veniō (“to come”). In classical Latin the verb meant “to arrive at, come to” and…

The adjective is inherited from Old French doble, inherited from Latin duplus (“twice as large, double”), and the noun continues its neuter duplum (“twice as much”). The Latin adjective is formed on…

It is derived from the feminine of doux, “douce”, with the adverbial suffix -ment. “Doux” is from Latin dulcis (“sweet”). Compare Old Occitan dolzament, Portuguese docemente and Italian dolcemente.

It is inherited from Latin dūrus (“hard to the touch; harsh; painful; unfeeling”), with the same range of senses. The origin of the Latin word is not established: a dissimilation of an older…

It is inherited from Old French enfant, inherited from Latin īnfāns (“not speaking; young child”), accusative “īnfantem”, formed with the negative prefix in- and the present participle of for (“to…

It is inherited from Ecclesiastical Latin īnfernus (“hell”), also īnfernum, the Christian Latin noun formed from the classical adjective īnfernus (“lower, of the regions below”), a doublet of…

It is inherited from Latin inter (“between, among; during”), a preposition and verbal prefix with the same uses. Rey analyses “inter” as in (“in”) with an element “-ter-” that sets two things…

It is formed with the prefix en- from Old French voloper (“to wrap, wrap round”) (12th–14th centuries), which corresponds to Old Occitan volopar and Italian “viluppo” “tangle, bundle”. “Voloper” is…

1. The preposition is a compound from French en + vers. vers “towards” continues Latin versus (“turned towards”), first an adverb, from vertō (“to turn”). It matches Old Occitan enves and Italian…

It is formed from en- and Old French viron (“turn, circle”), a noun derived from virer “to turn” but attested only from about 1225, much later than the adverb itself. That verb comes from Late Latin…

It is inherited from Old French espine, inherited from Latin spīna (“thorn; thorny shrub; spine”), which also meant an animal's spine or prickle and, figuratively, a difficulty. Rey says the Latin…

It is borrowed from Latin error (“wandering; uncertainty; mistake, illusion, (Christian Latin) heresy”), from its accusative “errōrem”, derived from errō (“to wander; to err”) (see errer). Compare…

It is inherited from Old French feme, inherited from Latin fēmina (“female; woman, wife”). “Fēmina” was originally a passive present participle meaning “she who is suckled, who gives suck”, from an…

It is inherited from Latin ferrum (“iron; sword; iron object; chains”). The Latin word is of unknown origin: ironworking reached the Indo-European area late, after bronze, and the names of the metal…

It is inherited from Old French fille, inherited from Latin fīlia (“daughter; girl”), the feminine of fīlius (“son”) (see fils). The sense “prostitute” comes from the shortening of phrases such as…

It is inherited from Old French fort, inherited from Latin fortis (“strong, sturdy; brave”), a word of uncertain origin, Wiktionary mentions Old Latin “forctis”. The adverb (early 12th century) and…

It is inherited from Old French guarder, from Germanic borrowed from Frankish *wardōn (“to look towards; to watch over”), reconstructed from Old High German wartēn (“to watch; to beware”), Middle…

It is inherited from Old French genoil, inherited from Late Latin genuculum (“knee”), a crossing of classical geniculum (“little knee”) with genū (“knee”), of which “geniculum” is the diminutive…

It is the old plural of gent, inherited from Old French genz, inherited from Latin gēns (“clan, family, people”) (accusative “gentem”). The Latin word is from gignō (“to beget”), from the…

It is inherited from Old French gote, inherited from Latin gutta (“drop; spot; small particle”), an expressive formation in Latin, which also used it in architecture. The name of the disease, gout…

It is inherited from Old French goule, inherited from Latin gula (“gullet, throat; palate, mouth; gluttony”). Rey connects “gula” with Indo-European roots “*gʷel-”, “*gʷer-” “to swallow”, probably…

It is inherited from Old French halt, inherited from Latin altus (“high; deep”), crossed in the northern French area with the Frankish adjective of the same meaning, *hōh, from which it took its…

It is inherited from Latin lavō (“to wash, bathe”). Latin “lavare” was at first intransitive, with a reflexive sense, while the transitive “to wash” belonged to the related lavere, “lavare” later…

It is inherited from Old French letre, inherited from Latin littera (“letter of the alphabet; in the plural, a missive, a writing, literature”). The Latin senses “missive”, “written work” and…

It is inherited from Old French lever, inherited from Latin levō (“to lighten, relieve; to lift up”), a verb formed from levis (“light (in weight)”), so properly “to make light”. Rey explains that…

1. The place is inherited from Old French leu, inherited from Latin locus (“place, spot”), in early Latin “stlocus”. The Latin word translated Ancient Greek τόπος (tópos) and took over its technical…

It is inherited from Old French livrer, inherited from Latin līberō (“to set free”), from līber (“free”). In popular Latin the verb had come to mean “to let go”, then “to hand over, supply”; Littré…

It is inherited from Old French lei, inherited from Latin lēx (“religious law; law; contract”), from its accusative “lēgem”. Rey explains that “lex” rested on the idea of an express agreement…

It is formed from French long + temps, the welding (1498–1515) of the old adverbial phrase “long temps”, Old French lonc tens. The adjective continues Latin longus (“long”), the noun Latin tempus…

1. The verb “to praise” is inherited from Old French loer, inherited from Latin laudō (“to praise, approve, extol”). The Latin verb is derived from laus (“praise, merit, glory”), whose favourable…

It is inherited from Old French man, inherited from Latin manus (“hand; force, power; handwriting; band of men”). Besides the hand itself, Latin “manus” stood for force and authority (of the…

It is inherited from Old French maisun, inherited from Latin mānsiō (“stay; lodging, stopping place”) (accusative “mānsiōnem”), from maneō (“to remain, stay”), whence also manoir. In imperial Latin…

It is inherited from Old French malabde, inherited from Latin male habitus (“in poor condition”), a phrase of imperial Latin (Aulus Gellius quotes “equum male habitum”, “a horse in bad condition”)…

It is inherited from Old French mangier, inherited from Latin mandūcō (“to chew; to eat”). The Latin verb was formed on mandūcus, the glutton of Roman comedy from Plautus onward, with huge jaws…

It is inherited from Old French marcheant, inherited from Vulgar Latin *mercatantem, the accusative of *mercatāns, present participle of a verb *mercatō (“to trade”) reconstructed from Italian…

It is inherited from Old French marchié, inherited from Latin mercātus (“trade; market”), from mercor (“to trade”), from merx (“goods”), a word perhaps connected with the god Mercury. It is a…

It is inherited from Old French meillor, inherited from Latin melior (“better”), accusative “meliōrem”, the comparative of bonus (“good”). Rey takes “melior” to be built on the same root as multus…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin mināre (“to drive (animals)”), an active form that replaced classical minārī (“to threaten”). The change of meaning comes from rural and popular speech: one…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin mentīre, for classical mentīrī (“to lie; to invent, feign”), from mēns (“mind”). Rey thinks the first sense of the Latin verb was probably “to imagine, invent”, and…

It is inherited from Old French medre, inherited from Latin māter (“mother; mother country; source”) (accusative “mātrem”), from Proto-Italic *mātēr, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr. Unlike…

It is inherited from Old French mun, inherited from Late Latin mum, a reduced form (7th century) of meum (“my”), the accusative of the Latin possessive “meus” used unstressed. The feminine “ma”…

It is inherited from Old French mot, inherited from Late Latin muttum (“sound, grunt”), a back-formation from muttiō (“to mutter, say mu”), built on an onomatopoeia “mu” for a sound made with the…

It is inherited from Latin mūrus (“wall, especially of a city”), in Old Latin “moerus”. The Latin word was distinct from moenia (“ramparts”) and, from pariēs (“wall of a house”) (see paroi). It is…

It is inherited from Old French noit, inherited from Latin nox (“night; rest; darkness; death”) (accusative “noctem”), from Proto-Italic *nok⁽ʷ⁾ts, from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. The…

It is borrowed from Latin observō (“to watch, pay attention to; to respect, comply with”), from ob- and servō (“to keep, preserve, watch over”) (see conserver). In Church Latin “observare” was used…

It is inherited from Old French oil, inherited from Latin oculus (“eye”), through a Vulgar Latin “oclus”. The Latin word also named anything shaped like an eye, such as a spot on a fur or a…

It is inherited from Old French oreille, inherited from Vulgar Latin oricla, inherited from Latin auricula (“ear; hearing”), a diminutive of auris (“ear”), which hardly survives in the Romance…

It is inherited from Late Latin ausāre (“to dare”), formed on “ausus”, the past participle of audeō (“to dare”). Bloch and Wartburg explain the new verb by the irregularity of “audēre”, whose…

It is inherited from Old French oblier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *oblītō, formed on “oblītus”, the past participle of Latin oblīvīscor (“to forget”). Rey relates the Latin verb to oblinō (“to…

It is inherited from Old French ovrir, inherited from Vulgar Latin *operiō, an alteration of Latin aperiō (“to open, uncover”). The vowel “o” came from its opposite, Latin operiō (“to cover…