French words first recorded in the 14th century

It is borrowed from Latin praestīgium (“trickery; illusion”), a neuter singular formed from the more usual feminine plural praestīgiae (“conjuring tricks, illusions”). This comes by dissimilation…

It is borrowed from Latin exigō (“to drive out; to demand, exact”), from ex- (“out”) and agō (“to drive”). The TLFi's first record is exigier in 1373; Bloch and Wartburg give 1357. Exigence was…

Its origin is not certain. It is probably a back-formation from an unrecorded verb “*sombrer” “to cast shade”, from Late Latin subumbrō (“to overshadow”), found only twice, in scriptural texts of…

It is borrowed from Late Latin anxiōsus, a medical term of the 5th century, derived from Latin anxius (“troubled; troubling”), from angō (“to squeeze, choke”), the source of angoisse. The Grand…

It is derived from fons, fonz, the old forms of fond (“bottom”), with the verb ending -er. That noun and fonds go back to Latin fundus (“bottom; piece of land”). The sense “to darken” comes from the…

1. To push back is formed from French re- + pousser, with the prefix meaning “back”. Wiktionary also mentions Late Latin repulsō. The simple verb continues Latin pulsō (“to push, beat”). The new…

It is borrowed from Latin scaena (“stage of a theatre; theatre; public scene; play-acting, intrigue”), also “scēna”, which in late Latin also meant a part of an act. The Latin word was taken from…

It is from French situer + -ation. situer was borrowed in 1313 from Medieval Latin situō (“to place”), derived from Latin situs (“position, site”).

It is formed with the suffix -erie on the stem of cotier (about 1283), a feudal term for a peasant holding a small tenure or for the rent paid on it, preceded by Medieval Latin coteria (Rouen, 1255)…

It comes from the phrase inherited from Middle French danse Macabré “dance of death”, in which the name was misread as “macabre” in the 19th century. The origin of “Macabré” is disputed. The TLFi…

It is from French re- + marquer, with an intensive “re-”. “Remarquer” is the Norman-Picard form that replaced Old French “remerchier” and “remerquer” under the influence of marquer, itself the…

It is borrowed from Latin cēdō (“to go; to withdraw, give way”), which also meant “to be inferior” and “to concede”. Its origin is not clear; Rey mentions a possible link with cadō (“to fall”)…

It is borrowed from Latin dēsignō (“to mark out; to point out; to appoint”), formed with dē- on signō (“to mark with a sign”), from signum (“sign”). The Latin verb also meant “to represent, draw”…

It is borrowed from Latin māchina (“contrivance, device; engine of war; hoist, (figurative) scheme”), an early borrowing of Ancient Greek μαχανά (mākhanā́), the Doric form of μηχανή (mēkhanḗ…

It is borrowed from Latin mōtor (“one who moves”), from the supine of moveō (“to move”) (see mouvoir). Medieval Latin used mōtor prīmus in philosophy for the one who gives a thing its motion (12th…

It is borrowed from Latin praecīsus (“cut off; abrupt, (rhetoric) abridged”), past participle of praecīdō (“to cut off in front; to shorten”), from prae (“before”) and caedō (“to strike, cut”). In…

It is borrowed from Latin rārus (“loose, sparse; few; infrequent; exceptional”), a learned remodelling (Oresme, 1377) of the inherited Old French rer or rere (late 12th century), which was limited…

It is borrowed from Latin stupidus (“stunned, dumbfounded; motionless, in a trance”), from stupeō (“to be numb; to be struck motionless”), also the source of stupeur.

It is from French sur- + face, modelled on Latin superficiēs (“upper side, surface”), which French also borrowed as superficie. Middle French also had superface (1521). face continues Late Latin…

It is borrowed from Latin manipulus (“handful, sheaf; company of soldiers”), formed from manus (“hand”) and an obscure second element; Littré took it to be pleō (“to fill”). The French word is…

It is borrowed from Latin problēma (“a question to be solved”), from Ancient Greek πρόβλημα (próblēma, “something put forward; obstacle; task; question”), derived from προβάλλω (probállō, “to throw…

It is borrowed from Latin typus (“figure, image; model; type”), taken over about 1380, from Ancient Greek τύπος (túpos, “impression of a blow; mark; figure, model”), derived from τύπτω (túptō, “to…

It is borrowed from Latin dīrigō (“to put in line; to direct; to arrange, regulate”), made a first-conjugation verb, from dis- and regō (“to guide, rule”) (see régir). The inherited outcome of the…

1. The verb “to import” is borrowed from Latin importō (“to bring in, carry into”), a term of trade, from in- and portō (“to carry”). It gained new life in the 17th century under the influence of…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin concernō (“to relate to”) (recorded in 1230), a scholastic development of Late Latin concernō (“to sift together, mix; to view as a whole”). The Late Latin verb is…

It continues inherited from Late Latin ūrulāre (“to howl”), a dissimilated form of classical ululō (“to howl; to wail”), itself of onomatopoeic origin. The TLFi suggests that the stressed vowel was…

It is from French ville + -age, from Old and Middle French “vil(l)e” in its old sense “farm, rural estate”, from Latin villa (“country house, farm”). Wiktionary and Littré derive it from Medieval…

It is formed from French voyage + -er. The noun voyage is from Latin viāticum, from via (“way, road”); in Latin it meant money for a journey, then provisions for a journey, and in the Latin of Gaul…

It is borrowed from Latin praecipitō (“to throw down headlong; to hasten”), derived from praeceps (“headlong”), formed from prae (“before, forward”) and caput (“head”), the source of chef.

It is derived with “-ette” from the Old French verb “estechier”, “estichier” (early 13th century), Picard “estequier”, “estiquier” (about 1180) “to thrust in, pierce; to attach”, from Frankish…

1. The adjective and noun meaning “sorrow” are probably formed from the verb chagriner, although the adjective (1389) is recorded earlier than the verb (1424). Bloch and Wartburg take the verb to be…

It is borrowed from Arabic مَخَازِن (maḵāzin), the plural of مَخْزَن (maḵzan, “storehouse”), from the verb خَزَنَ (ḵazana, “to store, amass”). It came either through Provençal or as borrowed from…

It is borrowed from Late Latin appretiō (“to value, appraise”), a word of Church Latin, from ad- and pretiō (“to value”), itself from pretium (“price”) (see prix). Wiktionary calls it a semi-learned…

It is borrowed from Latin formīdābilis (“to be feared, terrible”), from the verb formīdō (“to fear, dread”), itself formed on a noun of the same spelling meaning “scarecrow”, then “dread”. Littré…

It is borrowed from Latin charta (“sheet of papyrus, paper; written document”), itself from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, “roll of papyrus”). The Greek word is of unknown origin; an Egyptian source…

It is borrowed from Old Occitan gaf (“hook, pole”), from gafar (“to seize”). Bloch and Wartburg trace the Occitan verb, also found as Spanish gafar and Portuguese gafar, to Gothic *gaffōn (“to…

It is borrowed from Latin modus (“measure; manner, way, (in music) mode, (in grammar) mood”), first as a feminine noun because of its ending in “-e”; the masculine was reintroduced from the mid-15th…

It is borrowed from Latin adultus (“grown up”), the past participle of adolēscō (“to grow up”), used especially in adulta virgo (“marriageable girl”). The present participle of the same verb gave…

It is borrowed from Latin alibī (“elsewhere”), an adverb derived from alius (“other”), to which the legal Latin of the Middle Ages gave its special sense. Littré analyses it as “alius” and “ibī”…

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin artista or from Italian artista, the first derived from Latin ars (“art, skill”) (genitive “artis”), the second from arte (see art). In Medieval Latin an “artista”…

It is a remaking, after infirme and infirmité, of Old French enfermier, derived from the old adjective enferm (“sick”), which came from Latin īnfirmus (“weak, infirm”). Bloch and Wartburg note that…

It is formed from French celui + -là, from the demonstrative celui and the adverb là. The demonstrative comes from Vulgar Latin *ecce illui, from Latin ecce (“behold”) reinforcing the demonstrative…

It is the noun of “des(s)eigner”, the old form of dessiner, which in the 16th century also meant “to plan”, after its source Italian disegnare (with this sense since the 15th century); the Grand…

It is borrowed from Latin ex(s)istere (“to step out, emerge; to appear”), formed from ex- (“out of”) and sistō (“to be placed, set”), from the Indo-European root “*sta-” “to stand” of Latin stō (“to…

It is formed from unir (“to unite”) with the prefix ré-, the verb being borrowed from Latin ūniō (“to unite”). The Middle French spelling “raunir” was influenced by learned borrowings from Latin…

It is borrowed from Italian zecchino, a Venetian word for a gold coin struck at Venice from 1280 or 1284, although the word is only found from 1543. It is derived from zecca (“mint”), from Arabic…

It is the feminine past participle of sortir used as a noun. Of the verb's senses it kept only the idea of movement. The verb probably continues Latin sortior (“to cast lots; to obtain by lot”)…