French words first recorded in the 13th century

It is borrowed from Latin patrōnus (“patron (opposed to client); protector of the plebeians; defender; former master of a freedman”), from pater (“father”). Medieval Latin used “patronus” for a…

1. The police is borrowed from Late Latin polītīa (“political organization, government”), which Cicero had already used for Plato's “Republic”. The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πολιτεία…

It is from French soir + -ée. “Soir” is from Latin sērō (“late”), an adverb, Old French “seree” was remade as “soirée” after it.

It is derived from entreprendre, from the stem of its present participle, with the agent suffix -eur. An isolated entreprendeeur is found in the 13th century, beside the forms empreneeur (about…

It continues Old French gardenc, formed from the stem of garder with the suffix ⟨-enc⟩ of Germanic origin; the ending was later replaced by ⟨-ien⟩, after the many words with that ending. Wiktionary…

It is borrowed from Late Latin invīsibilis (“that cannot be seen”). The Latin adjective is formed with the negative prefix in- on vīsibilis (“visible”), from vīsum, the supine of videō (“to see”)…

It is a word of children's language formed by doubling the syllable “ma”, found in many languages: Latin mamma (“mother; breast”), Ancient Greek μάμμη (mámmē), Italian mamma, Spanish mamá, Russian…

It is borrowed from Latin nervōsus (“sinewy, muscular; vigorous”), from nervus (“sinew”) (see nerf). The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert describe it as a learned derivative of the French noun…

It is a word of children's speech, formed by repeating a syllable, with counterparts in many languages: Ancient Greek πάππας (páppas), Latin pappa, Catalan papa and Spanish papa. It answers to the…

It is borrowed from Latin impressiō (“a pressing into; impact, attack; impression on the mind”), from “impressum”, the supine of imprimō (“to press into, imprint”) (whence imprimer). Bloch and…

It is a back-formation from prochain, from Vulgar Latin *propiānus, from Latin prope (“near”). It replaced the Old French adverb “pruef”, “prof” “near”, from Latin “prope”. Littré derived it from…

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *assedita, the feminine past participle, used as a noun, of *assedeō, from Latin assideō (“to sit by”), from ad- and sedeō (“to sit”). In popular Latin…

It is from French durer + -ant, the present participle of the verb “to last”. It was first the verb of a participial clause, generally placed after its noun (“le mariage durant” “while the marriage…

It is formed from French lieu + tenant, from lieu “place” and the present participle of tenir, literally “one who holds the place of”, a substitute. Compare Old Occitan loctenent, Spanish…

It is borrowed from Latin ōrdinārius (“arranged in order; regular, usual”), derived from ōrdō (“order, rank”), the source of ordre. In Church Latin the word meant a cleric regularly attached to a…

It is a semi-learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin ūtilis (“useful, advantageous”), derived from ūtor (“to use”), the source of user. Littré notes that utle, with the stress of the Latin on the…

It is the present participle, used as a noun, from French étudier (“to study”). Étudier is a derivative of Old French estudie (“study”) (see étude). Compare Occitan estudian, Spanish estudiante…

It is borrowed from Late Latin proprietārius (“belonging to someone; an owner”), a term of Roman jurists, from proprietās (“ownership, property”), from proprius (“one's own”). The French adjective…

It is borrowed from Latin cholera (“bilious disease, bile; in Late Latin, anger”), itself borrowed from Ancient Greek χολέρα (choléra, “cholera”). The sense “bile” came from confusion with χολή…

It is borrowed from Latin experientia (“trial, test, attempt; experience, practice”), from experior (“to try, test”). That verb is formed with ex- and the root of perītus (“experienced, skilled”)…

It is borrowed from Latin extraordinārius (“exceptional, unusual; supplementary”), formed from extrā (“outside”) and ordinārius (“regular, customary”) after the phrase extrā ōrdinem (“out of the…

It is from French grand + mère, with “grand” in the old sense “aged”. The old form “grand” without “-e” continues the Old French adjective, which had one form for both genders (see grand); hence the…

It is either derived from the name Italie or borrowed from Italian italiano (“Italian”) (first half of the 14th century, Dante), itself from Italia, from Latin Italia; the GLLF derives it from…

It is borrowed from Latin magnificus (“doing great things; lavish; splendid; grandiose”), from magnus (“great”) and faciō (“to make, do”). The Latin word was said of a person who spends lavishly and…

It is the present participle, used as an adjective, of the Old French verb nonchaloir (“not to care about”), formed from non (“not”) and chaloir (“to matter, concern”). Chaloir comes from Latin…

It is borrowed from Late Latin particulāris (“of a part, partial”), a word rare before Late Latin and opposed to “universalis” (see universel), from Latin particula (“small part”) (see particule)…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pendicō (“to lean, be inclined”), derived from Latin pendeō (“to hang”) (see pendre). Rey suggests that the Vulgar Latin verb was formed on an adjective *pendicus…

The adjective is borrowed from Latin polīticus (“relating to government”), from Ancient Greek πολιτικός (politikós, “of citizens; of the state; skilled in public affairs”), from πολίτης (polítēs…

It is borrowed from Latin possibilis (“possible”), a word of Imperial Latin derived from posse (“to be able”). “Possibilis” and “impossibilis” were coined to render Ancient Greek δυνατός (dunatós)…

1. “Regime” is borrowed from Latin regimen (“direction, government”), from Latin regō (“to direct, rule”) (see régir). The earlier popular form “roiame” (late 12th century, “regisme” “kingdom”…

It is borrowed from Italian milione (“a thousand times a thousand”), recorded in the first half of the 14th century and formed on mille (“thousand”), of the same origin as French mille, with the…

It is borrowed from Latin futūrus (“about to be, future”), future participle of sum (“to be”), also used as a noun (“futurum” “the future”, and probably the grammatical tense). Rey traces it, like…

It is from French re- + approcher. The verb approcher continues Late Latin appropiō, used by Church writers, derived from prope (“near”).

It is borrowed from Latin positiō (“a placing, setting; position, situation; frame of mind; thesis; grammatical ending”), the noun of action formed on positum, the supine of pōnō (“to place, put”)…

It is formed from French règle + -er, from règle “ruler; rule”. Wiktionary allows it to be borrowed from Latin rēgulō instead. The noun is borrowed from Latin rēgula (“ruler, rule”), from regō (“to…

It is borrowed from Latin vitrum (“glass”), a learned doublet of verre, the inherited outcome of the same Latin word. The derivative vitreux is found earlier, in 1256. Compare Spanish vidrio and…

It is borrowed from Latin contemplor (“to look at attentively; to consider in the mind”), also found in the active form contemplō. The Latin verb was first a term of augury, formed from con- and…

It probably continues inherited from Vulgar Latin *exquartō (“to divide into four”), from ex- with intensive force and quartus (“fourth”) (see quart); the original sense, kept in Italian squartare…

It is borrowed from Late Latin essentiālis (“relating to essence”). The Latin adjective is derived from essentia (“nature of a thing”), a term of philosophy formed on esse (“to be”). The adverb…

1. “To mass” is formed from masse “mass” with the ending -er. The noun is inherited from Latin massa (“lump of dough; mass”), from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley cake”). 2. “To massage” is…

It is borrowed from Late Latin māteriālis (“made of matter; material”), a Late Latin and scholastic derivative of Latin māteria (“matter, stuff; timber”). Wiktionary instead treats the word as…

It is borrowed from Latin operātiō (“work; in Christian Latin, action, effect; divine working”), formed on the past participle of operor (“to work”) (see opérer), from opus (“work”). The Christian…

It came in through Italian trade as borrowed from Medieval Latin paperium, the Medieval Latin of Italy, a form of Latin papȳrus (“papyrus; paper made from it”) with a changed suffix. Rey derives it…

It is a compound of par, marking repetition in time, and fois. “Fois” is inherited from Latin vicis (“change, turn, succession”), the plural “vicēs” having given the word for each occasion on which…

It is borrowed from Latin participō (“to make someone share; to share out; to have a share”). Middle French also took over the first Latin sense, “to let someone share” (1355), and the second in the…

It is borrowed from Late Latin resistentia (“resistance”), an ecclesiastical Late Latin word of the late 4th or early 5th century, from resistō (“to stand still; to withstand”), the source of…

The origin is disputed. The TLFi, the FEW and Bloch and Wartburg see a blend of Old French riole (“pleasure party”), from the family of rire, with gale (“merrymaking”) and the verb galer (“to have…

It is formed from French beau + coup. “Coup” is probably used here in the sense “part cut off from a whole”, as in Old French “grant coup de la terre” “a large part of the land” (Joinville)…

It is borrowed from Latin effectus (“performance, accomplishment; force; result, effect”), from effectum, the supine of efficiō (“to bring about”), from ex- and faciō (“to make, do”). Cognate with…

It is formed from French re- + partir. “Partir” comes from a Vulgar Latin “*partire”, for classical Latin partior (“to share, divide”); it first meant “to share” and developed the sense “to leave”…

It is borrowed from Latin charactēr (“brand; mark; style; character”), from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “engraver; stamp, mark; distinctive nature”). The Greek noun is derived from χαράσσω…

It is from French informer + -ation. Latin īnfōrmātiō, from the supine of īnfōrmō (“to shape; to instruct”), meant “sketch, outline; idea, conception” and “explanation (of a word)”, senses not found…

It is a compound of plus and tôt, first the phrase “plus tost”, written as one word from 1549 where it had taken on a sense other than time. In this phrase “tôt” still had its older sense “quickly”…

It is from French tel + -ment, formed on the feminine. “Tel” continues Latin tālis (“such”). Compare Italian talmente and Old Occitan talment. The GLLF finds “telement” as early as the late 12th…

It is formed from tirer (“to pull, draw”) with the prefix a-. The Grand Robert adds that it was modelled on the Old French verb atirier, but Rey keeps that verb apart: atirier meant “to put in…

1. The verb “to cause” is formed from French cause + -er, from the noun meaning “reason, motive”. The noun is borrowed from Latin causa (“cause; lawsuit”). Compare Spanish causar and Italian…

It is borrowed from Latin centrum (“point of a pair of compasses; centre of a circle”), from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron, “goad, sting; centre of a circle”). The Greek word comes from κεντέω…

It is formed from Old French des + ja, the agglutination of the old adverbial phrase “des ja”, from dès and Old French “ja” “now, at once”, also found in jadis and jamais. “Ja” comes from Latin iam…

It is borrowed from Spanish guitarra (about 1330), from Arabic قيثارة (qīṯāra), itself from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, “cithara, lyre”). Rey says the Arabic step is only probable, and that the…

It is a remodelling (13th century) of Old French afermer, both forms borrowed from Latin affirmō (“to strengthen; to affirm”), formed on fīrmus (“firm”), the source of ferme. Littré explains that…