French words first recorded in the 11th century

It is inherited from Old French juefne, inherited from Vulgar Latin *iovenis, an alteration of Latin iuvenis (“young; young man or woman”). The Vulgar Latin vowel “o” arose from “-uv-” before the…

It is inherited from Old French joindre, inherited from Latin iungō (“to yoke; to join, unite”). The Latin verb belongs to the Indo-European group of iugum (“yoke”), the source of joug: from the…

Its origin is not certain. It probably comes from a form “*gauta”, from a pre-Latin derivative inherited from Vulgar Latin *gabota or “*gabuta” of the pre-Latin base “*gaba” “crop, throat”, perhaps…

It is inherited from Old French joer, inherited from Latin iocor (“to jest, joke”), from iocus (“jest”), the source of jeu. In late Latin “iocārī” replaced lūdō (“to play”) and took over its senses…

It is inherited from Old French jugier, inherited from Latin iūdicō (“to pass judgement; to decide, assess”), from iūdex (“judge”) (see juge). Littré and the GLLF analyse “iūdex” as formed from iūs…

It is borrowed from Latin labor (“toil, effort, hardship”), with the ending made French on the model of the many words in “-eur”; Wiktionary has it pass through Old French labor. Rey thinks the…

It is inherited from Old French laschier, inherited from Vulgar Latin *lassicō, a dissimilated form of laxicō (“to loosen”), a frequentative of laxō (“to widen, loosen, relax”), from laxus (“loose…

It is inherited from Late Latin lactem, the accusative of a masculine or feminine form of the classical neuter lac, lactis (“milk; milky sap of plants”). The Latin word is related to Ancient Greek…

It is inherited from Old French lancier, inherited from Late Latin lanceāre (“to wield a lance”), formed on lancea (“lance”) (whence lance). Cognate with Italian lanciare, Old Occitan lansar…

It is inherited from Gaulish *landa, reconstructed from Irish lann, Welsh llan and Cornish lan, which mostly in compounds mean “plain, open space” and “enclosure”, and also from Breton lann…

It is inherited from Old French legier, from popular Latin inherited from Vulgar Latin *leviārius, derived from levis (“light; of little importance; fickle”). The form presupposes an intermediate…

It is inherited from Old French lent, inherited from Latin lentus (“supple, pliant; sticky; sluggish, slow”). The origin of the Latin adjective is obscure: it may be an Etruscan loan, and the…

It is from French le + quel. The interrogative quel continues Latin quālis (“of what kind”), and the article le continues Latin ille (“that”). Compare Italian il quale and Spanish el cual, formed…

It is inherited from Old French lien, inherited from Latin ligāmen (“band, tie, cord”), from ligō (“to bind, tie”). The regular Old French outcomes of the Latin noun were leien and loien, which…

It is inherited from Old French liue, inherited from Late Latin leuca, also leuga, which Latin writers give as a Gaulish word, the Gaulish mile: from Gaulish. Wiktionary relates it to Proto-Celtic…

It is inherited from Latin līnea (“linen thread, string; line”), the feminine used as a noun of līneus (“of flax”), from līnum (“flax”) (whence lin). In Latin it named a linen thread, then any cord…

1. The book is borrowed from Latin liber (“inner bark of a tree; book; division of a work”) (accusative “librum”), a semi-learned borrowing: the inherited form would have been “*loivre”. The Latin…

It is inherited from Old French lores, inherited from Late Latin illā hōrā (“at that hour”), an ablative of time made of illa (“that”) and hōra (“hour”) (compare heure); its development parallels…

It is inherited from Late Latin lūmināria, the neuter plural of lūmināre (“lamp, light; window”), derived from lūmen (“light”), taken as a feminine singular. In Church Latin “luminaria” meant lamps…

It is inherited from Latin lūna (“moon; lunar month”). The Latin word is from Proto-Italic *louksnā, a feminine noun from an old adjective meaning “the bright one”, built on the Indo-European root…

It is inherited from Middle French luiter, inherited from Old French luitier, inherited from Latin luctō (“to wrestle, struggle”), a less usual active form of the deponent luctor. The Old French…

It is inherited from Old French mai, inherited from Latin Māius (“of May, May”) (with mēnsis (“month”) understood), the month of Māia, an Italic goddess, daughter of Faunus and wife of Vulcan, later…

1. The mallet is inherited from Old French mail, inherited from Latin malleus (“hammer, mallet”), a technical word that Rey compares with Old Church Slavonic млатъ (mlatŭ, “hammer”) and Old Norse…

It is inherited from Old French maistre, inherited from Latin magister (“chief, master, teacher”), probably derived from magis (“more”), like minister from minus. Magister replaced classical Latin…

1. The border province is borrowed from Frankish *marka (“boundary, border”), a Germanic word for a sign marking a limit, reconstructed from Old High German marcha, Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌺𐌰 (marka) and Old…

It is borrowed from Latin membrum (“limb; part of a whole; clause”), a word that in Latin named any part of the body, and so the parts of a whole and the individuals of a group, and that rendered…

It is inherited from Old French mençonge, inherited from Vulgar Latin *mentiōnica, derived from Late Latin mentiō (“lie”), recorded in the 6th century. The TLFi and Rey think this Late Latin word…

It is formed from French merveille + -eux. That noun is from Latin mīrābilia (“wonderful things”), a neuter plural taken as a feminine noun, frequent in the language of the Church, altered in…

It is inherited from Latin mēnsūra (“measuring; measure, size; degree; standard”), from mēnsum, supine of mētior (“to measure”). Rey connects “mētior” with Ancient Greek μῆτις (mêtis, “cunning…

It is a compound of Old French mi (“middle”) (see mi-), from Latin medius (“middle”), and Old French di (“day”) (842, in the Strasbourg Oaths), from diēs (“day”) through its accusative. That word…

It is from French mi- (“mid”) + lieu (“place”), literally “middle place”. “Mi” continues Latin medius (“middle”). Most Gallo-Romance dialects use mitan instead, and the south-west “mi”. Littré gives…

It is from French mille + -ier, or perhaps continues a Latin mīliārius, found in inscriptions as a noun meaning “a thousand” instead of the classical Latin mīliārium, neuter of the adjective…

It is borrowed from Latin minister (“servant, attendant; priest; agent”), formed on minus (“less”) after magister (“master”), with which it contrasts as servant does with master. In Christian Latin…

It is the Old French nominative “meindre”, inherited from Latin minor (“smaller, less”), the comparative of parvus (“small”). The accusative “minōrem” gave the oblique case “meneur”, but by the end…

It is inherited from Old French meis, inherited from Latin mēnsis (“month, (plural) menses”). The Latin word first meant the lunar month: in the Indo-European languages the name of the month was at…

It is inherited from Old French meitié, inherited from Latin medietās (“middle, centre, (late) half”), from its accusative “medietātem”. The Latin noun was formed from medius (“middle”) (see mi-)…

It is inherited from Old French montaigne, inherited from Late Latin montānea, the feminine used as a noun of the Late Latin adjective montāneus, a variant of classical Latin montānus (“of the…

It is inherited from Old French mordre, inherited from Vulgar Latin *mordō, with a short /e/ in the infinitive, an alteration of classical mordeō (“to bite; to sting, vex”). The popular form is…

It is inherited from Old French mosche, inherited from Latin musca (“fly; a curious, intrusive person”). Rey explains the Latin noun as a diminutive with a ⟨-c-⟩ suffix of an Indo-European root…

It is inherited from Old French meien, inherited from Latin mediānus (“of the middle”), an imperial Latin derivative of medius (“middle”). The Petit Robert traces “medius” to the Indo-European root…

It is borrowed from Latin murmurō (“to murmur, mutter; to grumble; to rumble, crackle”), from murmur (“rumble, low noise”). The noun is expressive, probably imitative, with counterparts in Armenian…

It is from French naître + -ance, formed after Latin nāscentia (“birth”), from nāscor (“to be born”). Compare Occitan naissença, Catalan naixença and Italian nascenza. Old French also used nation in…

It is inherited from Old French nacion, borrowed from Latin nātiō (“birth; race, people, nation”), a noun of action beside nātus (“birth”), from nāscor (“to be born”), the source of naître. In…

1. The adjective is inherited from Latin nitidus (“shining, bright; clean; elegant”), through a contracted Vulgar Latin form *nittus, according to Wiktionary. Nitidus comes from niteō (“to shine”)…

It is inherited from Old French nés, inherited from Latin nāsus (“nose; sense of smell; mockery; spout of a vessel”). Like nārēs (“nostrils”), the Latin word contains an Indo-European root for…

It is inherited from Old French neir, inherited from Latin niger (“black, dark; ill-omened”) (accusative “nigrum”). Latin “niger”, the counterpart of Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas), has no known…

It is inherited from Old French nombre, inherited from Latin numerus (“number; quantity; rank; grammatical number; rhythm”), a word that rendered all the technical senses of Ancient Greek ἀριθμός…

It is inherited from Old French novel, inherited from Latin novellus (“young, new, recent”), a diminutive of novus (“new”), the source of neuf. Rey notes that “novellus” was first a rural word for…

It is inherited from Old French nu, inherited from Latin nūdus (“unclothed; stripped of; bare, plain”). Rey notes that Latin “nūdus” was sometimes used like Ancient Greek γυμνός (gumnós) for…

It is inherited from Old French uevre, inherited from Latin opera (“work, activity, effort”), the plural of opus (“work, product of work”) used as a feminine singular since Plautus. Rey relates the…

It is inherited from Old French oisel, inherited from Late Latin aucellus (“bird”), a syncopated form of “*avicellus”, diminutive of avis (“bird”). The simple “avis” survives in Romance only in…

It is inherited from Old French oncle, inherited from Latin avunculus (“maternal uncle”), through Vulgar Latin *aunclum. The central /u/ fell and the /w/ of the first syllable weakened, Littré notes…

It is borrowed from Latin ōrdō (“row, rank; order, arrangement; class of citizens”), taken from its oblique forms (accusative “ōrdinem”). The Latin word first named the order of threads in the warp…

It is inherited from Old French os, inherited from Latin ossum (“bone”), a popular variant of classical os (“bone”). Littré notes that an Old French feminine plural continued the Latin neuter…

It is from Old French oste + -age, from the old form of hôte “host, guest” with the suffix -age, and so goes back to Latin hospes (“host, guest”). Hostages were usually lodged in the house of the…

It is inherited from Old French ovrier, inherited from Latin operārius (“of work; labourer”), from opera (“work, effort”) (see œuvre). The very rare opéraire is a learned doublet. Cognate with…

It is borrowed from Latin pallidus (“pale yellow, (of the face) pale, wan”), from palleō (“to be pale”). Wiktionary notes that an inherited word would have been syncopated, as Old French *paut; the…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *paraula, from parabola (“parable; grave, inspired speech”), borrowed from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ, “comparison”). In classical Latin “parabola” was a term…

It is from French passer + -age. passer continues popular Latin Vulgar Latin *passō, derived from passus (“step, pace”) (see pas). Compare Old Occitan passatge, Spanish pasaje, Portuguese passagem…

It is inherited from Old French pel, inherited from Latin pellis (“animal skin, fur; leather; parchment”). In popular Latin it replaced cutis (“human skin”) (compare cutané). Rey and the Petit…