French words first recorded in the 14th century

It is borrowed from Latin mōbilis (“movable; changeable, fickle”), a contraction of “*movibilis”, from moveō (“to move”). The same Latin word, inherited, gave meuble, of which “mobile” is a learned…

It is borrowed from Latin impōnō (“to place upon; to impose (a tribute); to deceive”), adapted to the form of poser. Old French first had emposer “to put upon”, especially “to give (a name)” (1119…

It is formed from French vacant + -ance. Wiktionary forms it on vaquer instead, and Littré traces it to Medieval Latin vacantia. “Vacant” was borrowed from Latin vacāns, the present participle of…

It is formed from French deux + -ième. That numeral comes from Latin duo (“two”).

It is a deverbal formation from the old verb mincier (“to cut into small pieces”), later mincer, which Bloch and Wartburg describe as an infinitive older than menuiser, before that verb was remade…

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pīkkō (“to prick, strike”), a verb found in all the Romance languages except Romanian (compare Catalan picar, Spanish picar and Portuguese picar). It goes back to…

It is borrowed from Latin bison (“wild ox”), recorded from the 1st century in Seneca and Pliny, which also passed into Ancient Greek βίσων (bísōn) (Pausanias, Oppian). The Latin word is taken from a…

It is a compound of cul “bottom, deepest part of a thing”, de and sac “bag”, named from the likeness of shape: a street closed at one end like the bottom of a bag.

It is from French craie + -on, from Latin crēta (“chalk, clay”). Cognate with Italian creta and Spanish greda, which kept the sense “clay” as well as “chalk”.

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin commissārius, recorded in 1242 for an executor of a will and in 1309 for a person given a mission, derived from Latin committō (“to entrust”), the source of…

It is from French contrôle + -er, from the noun for a register kept in duplicate. The noun is from French contre + rôle, replacing contrerole, from Medieval Latin contrārotulus, made of contrā…

It is borrowed from Latin distinguō (“to separate, divide; to differentiate”), formed from dis- and a verb with a nasal infix related to īnstīgō (“to goad”), whose root meant “to prick”. The first…

It is an alteration of Old French livel, the initial ⟨l⟩ changed to ⟨n⟩ by dissimilation from the final ⟨l⟩, from Vulgar Latin *libellus, from classical Latin lībella (“level (instrument)”), a…

It is inherited from Old French kay, a Norman–Picard word, probably inherited from Gaulish caio (“enclosure”), a Gaulish word recorded in a gloss. The Celtic languages support it: Old Irish cai…

It is from Old French perier (“to go together with, be equal to”), remade after Late Latin pariō (“to make equal; to be equal”); the Old French verb was derived from the adjective per (“equal”) (see…

It is borrowed from Latin capillāris (“of the hair”), an imperial Latin derivative of capillus (“hair”), the source of the inherited cheveu. In Late Latin it was used in botany (“capillaris herba”)…

It is borrowed from Latin commentārī (“to explain, interpret (writings)”), which in classical Latin meant “to meditate, apply one's mind to something”, from com- and mēns (“mind”). Wiktionary…

It is from French content + -er, a verb formed on the adjective. Content is from Latin contentus (“satisfied; content with little”), the past participle of contineō (“to hold together; to restrain”).

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin crānium (“skull”), from Ancient Greek κρανίον (kraníon, “skull; head”). Rey relates the Greek word to a root for the top of the body, the head or a horn, also seen…

It is borrowed from Latin dēcīsiō (“a deciding, settlement; arrangement, transaction”), formed on dēcīsum, the supine of dēcīdō (“to cut off; to settle”) (see décider), a compound of caedō (“to…

It is borrowed from Latin expressiō (“a pressing out, (Late Latin) expression of thought, vivid description”), derived from expressum, the supine of exprimō (“to press out; to express”) (see…

It is borrowed from Latin penetrō (“to put inside; to enter, penetrate”), from penitus (“deep inside, from within”), itself from penus (“provisions; the inner part of the house”), where the…

It is borrowed from Latin praeparō (“to make ready beforehand”), formed from prae- (“before”) and parō (“to make ready, arrange”), the source of parer. “Préparation” (about 1282) and “préparatoire”…

It is borrowed from Latin sēparō (“to set apart, separate; to distinguish”). The Latin verb is from sē-, marking separation (see séduire), and parō (“to prepare, arrange”) (see parer). Its inherited…

It is borrowed from Latin solidus (“dense, massive, firm; whole”), which belongs to an Indo-European root expressing the idea of “whole, entire”, like Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) and Latin…

Used as an adjective and a noun, it is the past participle from French allier (“to ally, unite”).

1. The bundle is borrowed from Middle Dutch bote (“bundle of flax”), related to boten (“to beat”), so properly the amount of crop threshed at one time. Bloch and Wartburg think a link with the…

It is the feminine past participle of revoir used as a noun, after vue, from voir, inherited from Latin vidēre (“to see”). The sense “periodical” is from English review (1705), itself taken from Old…

It is borrowed from Late Latin discutiō (“to examine, investigate, discuss”), in classical Latin “to shatter, shake apart; to dispel”, from dis- and quatiō (“to shake”). The sense “to examine” arose…

It is from French colle + -er, from the noun colle “glue”. “Colle” is from Vulgar Latin *colla, borrowed from Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla, “glue”). Compare Italian collare and Portuguese colar “to…

It is borrowed from Latin praetendō (“to stretch forth; to allege, plead as a pretext”). The Latin verb is formed from prae (“before”) and tendō (“to stretch”), and meant properly “to hold out in…

It is borrowed from Latin explicātiō (“a setting out clearly”), a noun of action formed on explicātum, the supine of explicō (“to unfold, explain”), the source of expliquer. The Latin noun meant…

It is borrowed from legal Latin dēpositum (“deposit, consignment”), the neuter past participle used as a noun of Latin dēpōnere (“to put down, lay aside”), from “dē-” and Latin pōnere (“to put”)…

It is borrowed from Latin ēvītō (“to avoid, shun”), formed from ē- (“out”) and vītō (“to avoid, keep clear of”). Rey finds “vītō” without a clear etymology, unless it is a frequentative of “viēre”…

It is a deverbal noun from French neiger (“to snow”), which continues Vulgar Latin *niviō (“to snow”) (REW) or, according to Bloch and Wartburg, *nivicō, replacing classical Latin ninguō. It…

It is borrowed from Latin resistō (“to stop; to stand facing; to resist”), from re- with intensive and opposing force and sistō (“to set; to stand firm”), a derivative of stō (“to stand”). Bloch and…

It is borrowed from Latin difficilis (“hard, troublesome, (of a person) morose, hard to deal with”), formed with the privative prefix dis- as the opposite of facilis (“easy”) (compare facile)…

It is borrowed from Late Latin exsistentia (“existence”), from exsistō (“to come forth, appear; to exist”) (see exister), formed from ex- (“out of”) and sistō (“to set, be placed”), of the…

It is from French fixe + -er, from the adjective fixe. “Fixe” (13th century, written “fix”, rare before the 16th century) is borrowed from Latin fīxus (“fixed”), past participle of fīgō (“to fix…

It comes from Old French grommes (“valet”) (1352), which the TLFi and Bloch and Wartburg take from English “grom” “boy” (1225), then “servant” (1297) (see groom); the form “gourmet” prevailed by…

It is borrowed from Late Latin habituor (“to be in a certain condition, be provided with”), and in its modern sense the Medieval Latin habituō (“to accustom”) (about 1290). The Latin verb is derived…

It is borrowed from Latin īgnōrō (“not to know”), from īgnārus (“not knowing”), formed from in- and gnārus (“knowing”), the source of ignare. Cognate with Old Occitan ignorar, Spanish ignorar and…

It is borrowed from Latin īnsistō (“to stand on; to apply oneself to; to dwell on”), formed from the locative “in-” and Latin sistō (“to stand still; to set”), a reduplicated form of stō (“to…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin agēns (“one who acts”), the scholastic use as a noun of the present participle of Latin agō (“to do, act”) (see agir). The sense “person acting for another” was…

It is borrowed from Latin exāmen (“tongue of a balance; weighing, examination”), a learned borrowing which Rey derives from *exagsmen, from ex- (“out of”) and the root of agō (“to drive”). The Latin…

It is borrowed from Latin familia (“household; family”), taken over fairly late (1337); the Latin word is derived from famulus (“servant”), an Italic word isolated in Indo-European. The Roman…

It is borrowed from Latin professor (“one who professes an art or science; teacher”), from profiteor (“to declare publicly; to teach publicly”), from prō- and fateor (“to confess, acknowledge”).

It is a borrowing from Latin, with senses from two related nouns. The legal sense (1338) is borrowed from Latin āctum (“deed; in the plural, records”), the past participle of agō (“to do, act”) used…

It is borrowed from Latin dīrēctiō (“straight line, (late Latin) a directing”), from the supine “directum” of dīrigō (“to direct”) (see diriger), formed on regō (“to rule, guide”).

It is borrowed from Latin ēnōrmis (“irregular; out of proportion, huge”), from ex- (“out of”) and nōrma (“carpenter's square; rule”) (see norme). Compare Italian enorme and Spanish enorme.

It is borrowed from Latin prōdūcō (“to lead forward; to bring out; to cause; to extend; to rear”), remade on the model of verbs such as conduire. The Latin verb is formed from prō- (“forward”) and…

It is a deverbal noun from French réserver (“to reserve, keep back”), first found in 1342 as a legal term. The verb, recorded from the 12th century, was borrowed from Latin reservō (“to keep back…

It is from French trier + -age. Trier “to sort” (about 1170) is traced by Bloch and Wartburg to Latin trītō (“to grind”), recorded in the 6th century, a derivative of classical terō (“to rub…

It is borrowed from Old Occitan caissa (“box, chest; reliquary”) (13th century), from Latin capsa (“box for books; case for fruit”), probably borrowed through trade between the south and the north…

It is formed from French rider + -eau, from the old sense of rider “to pleat, gather”, a curtain being gathered in folds. The verb is probably from Old High German rīdan (“to turn, twist”), earlier…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin installāre (“to install (a cleric) in his stall”), formed in the 13th century from in- and stallum (“stall”), itself from Frankish *stal (“position, place”)…

It is probably an expressive formation on a stem “bod-” expressing swelling (compare bedaine, boudin), for the pouting lips of a sulky person. Diez and Littré gathered Romance and dialect forms with…

It is borrowed from Late Latin capābilis (“able to hold, receive”), a Christian Latin word of the 2nd century, from capiō (“to take; to hold, contain”) and the suffix “-abilis” (see -able). It…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin lēctūra (“reading; studies, learning; legal commentary”), recorded in the 14th century. The Latin noun is derived, like lēctor (“reader”), from lēctum, the supine…

It is borrowed from Latin missiō (“a sending; release, discharge”), from mittō (“to send”) (see mettre). Old French had already taken the word as meission (1188–1500) in the sense “expense, outlay”…