French words first recorded in the 11th century

It is inherited from Old French espes, inherited from Latin spissus (“thick, dense, compact”). The modern form comes from the variant espeis, espois, in a development like that of roide to raide…

It is inherited from Old French la, inherited from Latin illāc (“that way, there”), from ille (“that”), whose final “c” had already dropped in speech from the time of Plautus. The expected diphthong…

It is inherited from Old French oïl (“yes”), in a reduced form, “oïl” is a compound of o (“yes; that”), from Latin hoc (“this”), and the pronoun il. “Oïl” is the condensation of a sentence like…

1. “Present” is borrowed from Latin praesēns (“present, at hand; immediate”), the present participle of “praeesse” “to be in front, be at the head”, from “prae” “before” and Latin esse (“to be”)…

It is inherited from Old French cue, inherited from Latin cōda (“tail”), a variant of cauda. The Latin word, also used of the penis, is a popular word of unknown origin. coda is a doublet, through…

It is inherited from Latin sentiō (“to perceive by the senses or the mind; to think, judge; to vote”). The Latin verb also meant “to realize”, “to have in mind” and “to be affected by”. Its origin…

It is inherited from Old French verai, inherited from Vulgar Latin *vērācus (“true”), recorded in Medieval Latin as “veragus” (770), from Latin vērāx (“truthful, sincere, reliable”), itself from…

It is a deverbal noun from Old French murtrir (“to murder”) (modern meurtrir), which Bloch and Wartburg derive from Frankish *murþrjan (“to murder”); compare Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, “murder”) and Old…

It comes from the Old French phrase “a bandon” “at the disposal (of)”, as in “laisser a bandon”, “mettre a bandon”. “Bandon” “power, authority” is derived from ban, from Frankish *bann. Bloch and…

It is inherited from Old French acorder, inherited from Vulgar Latin *accordō (“to agree; to bring into agreement”), formed by a change of prefix from Latin concordō (“to agree”), which in Late…

It is formed from the Old French phrase a chief (“to the end”), in which the word for “head” (see chef) had the extended sense “end, extremity”. The GLLF and Wiktionary instead derive it from Vulgar…

It is from French a- + dresser, first adrecier, from the older form of the verb, drecier. That verb continues Vulgar Latin *dīrēctiāre, from dīrēctus (“straight”), the past participle of dīrigō (“to…

It is inherited from Old French eage, inherited from Vulgar Latin *aetāticum, from Latin aetās (“lifetime; time of life”). Bloch and Wartburg, and Rey as an alternative, form it instead in French…

It is inherited from Old French ele, inherited from Latin āla (“wing; armpit; wing of an army”), respelt with ⟨ai⟩ in the 15th century after the Latin word. The Latin noun is related to axis…

It is formed in from Old French a- + joster (“to bring together”). The simple verb (compare jouter) is from Vulgar Latin *iūxtō (“to be adjoining; to bring together”), or from Old French “joste”…

It is borrowed from Late Latin Alamannus (“Alamannic”), also written “Alemannus”, the name of a confederation of western Germanic peoples, whose country was “Alamannia” (whence Allemagne). The Latin…

It is inherited from Old French alumer, inherited from Vulgar Latin *allūminō (“to light up”), from ad- and Latin lūminō (“to light up”), from lūmen (“light”). The original sense “to light up” is…

It is formed from French a- + mener, already in Old French amener. The Grand Robert finds “amenar” in the 10th century. Mener is from Vulgar Latin minō (“to drive (animals) with shouts”), from minor…

It is from Old French Angle (“Angle”), the name of the Germanic people who settled in Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries, with the suffix “-eis” (modern -ais). The name comes from Late Latin Anglī…

It is formed from French a- + percevoir, already in Old French apercevoir (“to become aware of”). Percevoir is a remaking of Old French “perçoivre”, from Latin percipiō (“to seize by the senses…

It is inherited from Old French aparoistre, inherited from Late Latin appārēscō (“to appear suddenly”), an inchoative of appāreō (“to appear”), itself from pāreō (“to appear, be visible”) (see…

It is inherited from Old French aprochier, inherited from Late Latin appropiō (“to draw near”), a verb of Church writers formed on Latin prope (“near”); the Latin /pj/ gave ⟨ch⟩, as in proche and…

It is inherited from Old French apuier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *appodiō, from ad- and Latin podium (“base, support; balcony”) (which gave puy), itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πόδιον…

It is a remodelling, after Latin arabus, of the old form arrabit, which perhaps came straight from Arabic عربي (ʿarabī). The Latin word, a variant of Arabs, comes from Ancient Greek Ἄραψ (Áraps)…

It is inherited from Latin arbor (“tree; mast”), from the accusative “arborem”, in popular Latin *arbrem. Rey calls the Latin word obscure, there being no common Indo-European word for “tree”; its…

It is inherited from Late Latin arma (“weapon”), the classical neuter plural Latin arma (“arms; tools”) taken as a feminine singular, as in all the Romance languages. Rey calls it an early…

It is inherited from Old French esrachier with a change of prefix, inherited from Vulgar Latin *exrādīcō, from Latin ērādīcō (“to uproot”), from ex- and rādīx (“root”) (see racine). According to…

It is inherited from Latin ars (“skill; craft; method; cunning”) (accusative “artem”). The TLFi calls it a borrowing from Latin. Rey relates “ars” to Latin armus (“shoulder”) and Latin artus…

It is inherited from Old French asseürer, inherited from Vulgar Latin *assēcūrāre (“to make safe, protect”), from ad- and Latin sēcūrus (“safe, secure”) (see sûr); the verb is postulated from forms…

Its origin is not entirely clear. The usual explanation is a change of prefix from Old French estachier (“to fasten, fix”) (early 13th century), a derivative of estache (“stake, post”), which…

It is inherited from Old French ataindre, from popular Latin inherited from Vulgar Latin *attangō, a remaking of classical attingō (“to touch; to reach, arrive at”) after the simple verb tangō (“to…

1. The dawn is inherited from Old French albe, inherited from Vulgar Latin alba, the feminine of albus (“white”) used as a noun, “the white one”, as in alba lux and alba diēs. Cognate with Romanian…

It is formed from au jour d'hui “on the day of today”, from au, jour, the preposition “de” and Old French hui (“today”), a strengthened form of “hui”. “Hui” continues Latin hodiē (“today”), from hōc…

It is inherited from Old French alsi, inherited from Vulgar Latin *ale sīc, from “*ale”, a popular remaking of alid (“something else”), and sīc (“so, thus”). Rey allows that it may instead have been…

It is inherited from Old French baissier, from popular Latin inherited from Vulgar Latin *bassiō, derived from Late Latin bassus (“low”) (see bas); in Romance it stands opposed to “*altiāre” (see…

1. The strip is borrowed from Frankish *binda (“band, tie”). Rey prefers an early borrowing from a general Germanic “*bindō-”, perhaps through the fur trade, rather than from Frankish, given its age…

It is borrowed from Latin basis (“base, pedestal; foundation”), which transcribes Ancient Greek βάσις (básis, “a stepping; step; that on which one steps, foundation”), from βαίνω (baínō, “to walk…

It is inherited from Late Latin battālia (5th–6th centuries), an alteration of battuālia, a neuter plural attested in the 4th century in the sense “fencing exercises”, from Latin battuō (“to beat”)…

It is inherited from Old French beltet, from bel (beau), or from Vulgar Latin *bellitās (“beauty”) (accusative “*bellitātem”), from Latin bellus (“pretty, handsome”). Classical Latin “bellus” meant…

It is inherited from Old French beste, from Latin bēstia (“animal, beast”). The Latin word, of unknown origin, was the popular word for any animal; the regular popular development “bīstia” gave…

It is inherited from Old French blo, borrowed from Frankish *blāo (“blue”), a Germanic word that took root only in Gallo-Romance (compare Old Occitan blau). Rey and Wiktionary place between them…

Its origin is uncertain. It is usually traced to a Germanic “*blunda-” (Frankish *blund), since it names a hair colour typical of northern peoples and many French colour words are Germanic, such as…

It is inherited from Old French buef, inherited from Latin bōs (“ox, cow”) (accusative bovem). Rey explains bōs as a dialect form preferred to the native Roman development, from an Indo-European…

It is inherited from Medieval Latin boscus (“wooded land”), recorded from 704 in a charter of Childeric III, and in the plural “bosci”, which gave “bois” (“boscus” would have given “bos”). The…

It is inherited from Old French brisier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *brisiō, a form required by Old French and by the Italian outcomes, probably from Late Latin brisō (“to tread grapes”) (about…

It is inherited from Old French brun, inherited from Late Latin brunus, the latinized form of a Germanic word meaning “brown” (Wiktionary gives the Frankish form *brūn), probably brought into the…

It is inherited from Old French quarrel, inherited from Vulgar Latin *quadrellus, a diminutive of Latin quadrus (“square”). Medieval Latin quadrellus is recorded as a crossbow bolt (about 578), a…

It is inherited from Old French quasser, inherited from Latin quassō (“to shake hard; to batter, break”), the frequentative of Latin quatiō (“to shake”), formed on its past participle “quassus”…

It is inherited from Old French cervel, inherited from Latin cerebellum (“small brain”), a diminutive of cerebrum (“brain”) (see cérébral). The Latin neuter plural, taken for a feminine singular…

It is inherited from Old French chaiene, inherited from Latin catēna (“chain”), by the regular change of /k/ before /a/ to /tʃ/ and then /ʃ/, as in “chien” and “chose”, and the loss of /t/ between…

It is inherited from Old French chaere, by regular sound change inherited from Latin cathedra (“chair with a back”), borrowed from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra, “seat; teacher's chair; throne”)…

It is inherited from Old French chalor, inherited from Latin calor (“heat, warmth; ardour”), accusative “calōrem”, from caleō (“to be warm”), the source of Old French chaloir (“to matter”). The TLFi…

It is inherited from Latin campus (“plain; cultivated plain, field; battlefield; field of action”). The Latin word, probably native to an ancient language of Italy, first meant a plain as opposed to…

It is from French changer (“to change”) + -ment, formed in Old French. The verb continues Late Latin cambiō (“to exchange, barter”), which Bloch and Wartburg trace to a Gaulish word, comparing…

It is inherited from Old French chançon, inherited from Latin cantiō (“song, singing”), an action noun corresponding to canō (“to sing”) (see chanter). The other Latin action noun, cantus, gave…

It is inherited from Old French chapele, inherited from Late Latin cappella (“little cloak”), a diminutive of cappa (“hooded cloak”), whence chape and cape. Medieval Latin cappella named first (679)…

It is inherited from Late Latin carricō (“to load”), recorded in the 6th century in the syncopated form “carcare” (Salic Law), derived from carrus (“four-wheeled wagon”) (see char): properly “to put…

It is from French chasser + -eur. The verb chasser goes back to Vulgar Latin *captiō (“to try to catch”). Cognate with Italian cacciatore, Spanish cazador, Portuguese caçador and Occitan cassador.

It is inherited from Old French chastel, inherited from Latin castellum (“redoubt; water tower; in Medieval Latin, citadel, fortified town”), a diminutive of castrum (“fortified place, camp”). Rey…

It is inherited from Latin caldus (“hot, (figurative) hot-headed”), the contracted form of calidus, from caleō (“to be hot”), the source also of chaloir. Littré read the “grant iholt” of the…