French words first recorded in the 11th century

It is formed from French essai + -er, Old French essai “trial, attempt”. The Grand Robert also allows a Vulgar Latin “*exagiāre” “to weigh”. The noun “essai” continues Late Latin exagium…

It is inherited from Old French establir, inherited from Latin stabiliō (“to make firm, support, prop up”). The Latin verb is derived from stabilis (“firm, steady”), properly “able to stand…

It is Old French estage (“dwelling; stay; condition”), formed from Old French ester (“to stand, to be (somewhere)”) + -age, the verb being from Latin stāre (“to stand”). Bloch and Wartburg, the GLLF…

It is inherited from Old French esté, inherited from Latin aestās (“summer”), from its accusative “aestātem”. The Latin word seems to come by haplology from “*aestitās” and belongs to the root…

It is inherited from Old French estendre, inherited from Latin extendere (“to stretch out, widen”), from “ex-” with intensive value and Latin tendere (“to stretch”) (see tendre), which belongs to an…

It is inherited from Old French esteile, inherited from Vulgar Latin *stēla, for Latin stēlla (“star”). Bloch and Wartburg explain the single ⟨l⟩ by a treatment of ⟨ll⟩ after a long vowel found only…

It is inherited from Old French estoner, inherited from Vulgar Latin *extonō, from Latin attonō (“to strike with lightning; to stun”) by change of prefix (“ex-” for “ad-”), from tonō (“to thunder”)…

It is inherited from Old French estreit, inherited from Latin strictus (“drawn tight, narrow; concise; strict”), the past participle of stringō (“to draw tight”). The form with ⟨oi⟩ replaced the…

It is borrowed from Latin studium (“zeal, eagerness; study”), the form “estudie” coming from the plural “studia” taken as a feminine singular; “estuide”, then “estude”, followed by metathesis…

It is inherited from Old French esveiller, inherited from Vulgar Latin *exvigilō, a remodelling with the prefix ex- of Latin ēvigilō (“to wake up; to stay awake, keep watch”). Wiktionary gives the…

It is borrowed from Latin fabricō (“to shape, make”), from fabrica (“craft, workshop”), a derivative of faber (“craftsman working hard materials”). The popular outcome of the same Latin verb is…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *facia (“portrait”), from classical Latin faciēs (“form, appearance; face”), which is related to faciō (“to make, do”). The learned faciès is a doublet. Compare…

It is inherited from Middle French foible, inherited from Old French feble, inherited from Vulgar Latin *febilis, from Latin flēbilis (“lamentable, worthy of tears”) by loss of the first ⟨l⟩ through…

It is inherited from Old French feün, inherited from Vulgar Latin *fētō (“young of an animal”) (accusative “*fētōnem”), from classical Latin fētus (“bearing, offspring; litter”) (see fœtus). The…

It is inherited from Old French faldestoel, borrowed from Frankish *faldistōl (“folding seat”), a compound reconstructed from Old High German faldstuol (whence German Faltstuhl), English faldstool…

1. The adjective “false” is inherited from Old French fals, inherited from Latin falsus (“false, falsified, deceitful”), the past participle of fallō (“to deceive”). The same Latin verb gave faillir…

It is inherited from Latin firmō (“to make firm, strengthen; to confirm”), derived from firmus (“firm, strong”). The shift to “to close” may have begun in Late Latin, where “firmare” and…

It is inherited from Old French fueille, inherited from Late Latin folia, the neuter plural of Latin folium (“leaf; sheet of paper”), taken as a feminine singular. The collective plural is explained…

1. “To trust” is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fīdāre, an alteration of classical Latin fīdere (“to trust”), or derived from fīdus (“faithful”), from the Indo-European root “*bheidh-” “to trust…

It is borrowed from Latin figūrō (“to form, shape; to picture, imagine; to adorn with figures of speech”), from figūra (“shape, form”). Wiktionary compares the reflexive use with Italian figurarsi…

It is inherited from Old French fenir, inherited from Latin fīniō (“to limit, bound; to finish”), from fīnis (“boundary, end”). The Old French form “fenir” arose by dissimilation of the two “i”…

It is inherited from Old French flor, inherited from Latin flōs (“flower; the finest part”) (accusative flōrem). The Latin word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to bloom”), also seen in…

It is inherited from Old French floter, formed on from Frankish *flot-, a Frankish stem, probably influenced by Latin fluctuō (“to fluctuate”). The TLFi compares Middle Dutch vlōten (“to flow…

It is formed from Old French fol + -ie, from the old form of the adjective fou (see also fol and folle). The adjective continues Latin follis (“bellows; bag; ball”): by a joke, a foolish person was…

It is inherited from Old French fonz, inherited from Latin fundus (“bottom; farm, estate”), through a popular neuter “*fundus, *fundoris”, which explains why Old French “fonz” was invariable like…

It is inherited from Old French force, inherited from Late Latin fortia (“deeds of strength or courage”), recorded from the 4th century, the neuter plural of fortis (“strong, brave”) (see fort)…

It is inherited from Old French fol, inherited from Latin follis (“bellows; inflated bag; ball”), which in Late Latin had come to mean “foolish, idiot”. The fool was likened in jest to a ball blown…

1. The adjective is inherited from Old French freis, borrowed from Frankish *frisk (“fresh”), a Germanic word used of temperature and figuratively of what is recent or unwithered. The TLFi calls it…

It is formed from French France + -ais, Old French franceis, “France” continues Late Latin Francia (“land of the Franks”), the name of the Romanized part of Gaul north of the Loire occupied by the…

It is inherited from Old French freit, inherited from Latin frīgidus (“cold, chilled; indifferent”), through Late Latin “frigdus” with a short “i”, recorded in the “Appendix Probi”. The change of…

It is inherited from Latin frontem (“forehead; brow; face, expression; front of a thing, of an army”). “Frōns” was usually feminine in Latin but already sometimes masculine; in Gallo-Romance only…

It is the feminine past participle, used as a noun, from French fumer (“to smoke”). The verb continues Latin fūmō, from fūmus (“smoke”). It replaced Old French fum “smoke”, from that Latin noun…

1. The verb “to smoke” is inherited from Latin fūmō (“to give off smoke or steam”), derived from fūmus (“smoke”), which has no known origin according to Rey. Littré related the Latin root to Ancient…

It is inherited from Old French garçon, the object case of gars, probably borrowed from Frankish *wrakkjō (“vagabond, outcast”), object case “*wrakkjone”, later “*wrakjóne” with a shift of stress…

It is inherited from Old French guaster, inherited from Latin vāstō (“to lay waste, depopulate; to ravage”), from vāstus (“empty, desolate”), whose initial was changed to /w/, and hence /g/, under…

It is inherited from Old French jaiant, inherited from Vulgar Latin *gagantem, the accusative of “*gagas”, an altered form of Latin Gigās (“Giant”) (plural “Gigantēs”), from Ancient Greek γίγας…

It is inherited from Old French gorge, inherited from Vulgar Latin *gorga, a variant of Late Latin gurga (“gullet”) (6th century), from classical Latin gurges (“whirlpool; abyss; figuratively…

It is inherited from Latin gustus (“tasting; taste, flavour”). Rey and the Petit Robert relate “gustus” to an Indo-European root “*geus-” “to try, taste, appreciate”, also behind Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽…

It is from French grand + père, with “grand” in its old sense “aged”, which Latin grandis already had in “grandis natu”. Bloch and Wartburg date it from the 12th century, like “grand-mère”; the…

It is inherited from Old French gros, inherited from Late Latin grossus (“thick, coarse”), a popular word of imperial and Christian Latin, also “rough, coarse”. Bloch and Wartburg note that it…

According to the TLFi, Rey, the Grand Robert and the GLLF it is borrowed from Frankish *wad (“ford”), reconstructed from Old High German wat and Middle Dutch wat, with the usual change of Germanic…

It is inherited from Old French guaires, borrowed from Frankish *waigaro (“much”), a form reconstructed from Old High German weigiro (“not very, little”) (with a negative) and Middle High German…

It is inherited from Old French guerre, borrowed from Frankish *werra (“confusion, disorder; quarrel”), reconstructed from Old High German werra (“scandal; quarrel”) and Middle Dutch werre…

It is inherited from Old French guaitier, from Frankish *wahtōn (“to keep watch”), reconstructed from Old High German “wahtēn” “to keep watch”, Middle Dutch wachten and English watch, and is a…

It is borrowed from Frankish *hatjan (“to hate”), reconstructed from Old High German hâzen, Middle High German hazzen and German hassen, and akin to English hate. The Reichenau Glosses (late 8th…

It is inherited from Latin herba (“grass; weeds; young shoot, especially of grain; plant”). Rey calls the Latin word a pre-Latin rural term of unknown origin, the Petit Robert an obscure one…

It is inherited from Old French ier, inherited from Latin heri (“yesterday, (Late Latin) lately”). Rey compares Sanskrit ह्यस् (hyás) and Irish “in-dé”, Littré took “heri” from an older “*hesi”, as…

It is an adapted borrowing of Latin historia (“history, historical narrative; tale”), from Ancient Greek ἱστορία (historía, “inquiry, information; account”), from ἵστωρ (hístōr, “one who knows…

It is borrowed from Frankish *haunipa (“disdain, contempt, mockery”) (also “*haunita”), from the same root as honnir. The Frankish word is reconstructed from Old High German hōnida (“dishonour”) and…

It is borrowed from Latin horribilis (“dreadful, terrifying; astonishing”), from horreō (“to bristle; to shudder”). Cognate with Italian orribile, Spanish horrible and Portuguese horrível.

It is inherited from Old French oile, inherited from Latin oleum (“olive oil; oil”), derived from olea (“olive; olive tree”), from Ancient Greek ἐλαία (elaía, “olive”); Rey makes “oleum” a Latin…

It is borrowed from Old High German hutta (“hut, cabin”), the source of a family of Germanic words such as English hut; Rey thinks it probably named temporary military buildings, and traces it to…

It is inherited from Old French isle, inherited from Latin īnsula (“island; block of houses”), often pronounced “isula”. The origin of the Latin word is unknown; a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean…

It is borrowed from Latin innocēns (“harmless; blameless; not guilty”), through its accusative innocentem. The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and nocēns (“harmful”), present participle…

It is borrowed from Latin interrumpō (“to break apart; to interrupt”), from inter- (“between”) and rumpō (“to break”) (see rompre). The Old French forms were adapted to entre and the simple verb…

It is borrowed from Latin inūtilis (“useless, of no help; harmful”), from in- (“not”) and ūtilis (“useful”), from ūtor (“to use”). Compare Old Occitan inutil, Spanish inútil and Italian inutile.

It is a contraction of Old French jaiet, which is inherited from Latin gagātem (“jet”), the accusative of “gagātēs” (Pliny), from Ancient Greek γαγάτης (gagátēs), literally “stone of Gagas”, a town…

It is inherited from Late Latin gamba (“pastern or hock of a horse”), a veterinary word extended to other four-legged animals and then to people. The Latin word was a popular borrowing of Ancient…

It is inherited from Old French jalne, inherited from Latin galbinus (“pale green, yellowish”), from galbus (“yellow, greenish yellow”), a word of unknown origin. “Galbinus”, which rendered Ancient…

It is inherited from Old French giu, inherited from Latin iocus (“joke, jest, play with words”). Often paired with lūdus (“play, game”), “iocus” replaced it in Vulgar Latin and took over all its…