French words first recorded in the 15th century

The origin is uncertain. It seems to be borrowed from Latin dominō (“(to the) Lord”), the dative or ablative of “dominus” “lord, master”, taken from a formula of prayer such as “benedicamus Domino”…

It is borrowed from Latin dēcīdō (“to cut off; to settle, decide”), formed from dē- and caedō (“to cut, strike”). The Latin verb was used figuratively for “to cut short, settle”, often in law…

It is formed from dé- and place with a verb ending; the TLFi also sees it as the opposite of emplacer (see emplacement). The noun continues Latin platea (“broad street”), which took the sense…

It probably goes back to Frankish *grīpan (“to grasp, seize”), compare Middle Dutch “gripen”, Old High German grīfan and German greifen; Wiktionary takes it from Proto-Germanic *grīpaną. The word…

It is borrowed from Latin haesitō (“to be stuck, at a loss; to stammer; to hesitate”), a frequentative of haereō (“to stick, cling”). The Latin verb has been compared with Lithuanian gaištù (“to…

It is borrowed from Latin interior (“inner, further in; more personal, more intimate”), an old comparative of inter (“between, among”) that replaced an assumed “*interus” “inner”. The Latin plural…

It is borrowed from Latin cōnfīdentia (“confidence, assurance; boldness”), from cōnfīdō (“to trust fully”), adapted after Old French fiance (“faith, trust”). “Cōnfīdō” is formed on fīdō (“to…

It is borrowed from Italian carezzare (“to cherish”), recorded in the 14th century (Matteo Villani), a verb formed from carezza (“caress”) (see caresse). Bloch and Wartburg derive the Italian noun…

It is borrowed from Latin rēspūblica (“the public thing; the state; the commonwealth”), a fusion of Latin rēs (“thing”) (see rien) and “publica”, feminine of Latin pūblicus (“public”) (see public)…

It is borrowed from Latin optō (“to examine; to choose; to wish”), a word little represented in the Romance languages. Rey describes it as the frequentative of an unattested “*opiare” “to choose”, a…

It was first a word of seamen, which seems to have come inland only in the 15th century, brought to Paris by the sea trade with Normandy. It probably comes from Old Norse “*varask” “to be on one's…

It is borrowed from Old Occitan capdel (“chief, captain; capital letter”), from Latin capitellum (“small head; top”) (which gave chapiteau), the diminutive of caput (“head”) (see chef). Rey and…

The noun “calme” is from Ancient Greek καῦμα (kaûma, “burning heat”), from καίω (kaíō, “to burn”), through a Romance language. Bloch and Wartburg, the FEW and Meyer-Lübke take it from Italian calma…

It is borrowed from Lombard seleri, a plural corresponding to Tuscan Italian sedano, from Late Latin selinon (“parsley; celery”), from Ancient Greek σέλινον (sélinon, “a kind of wild celery”). It is…

It is a dialect variant: inherited from Middle French chaire, inherited from Latin cathedra (“seat, armchair”), borrowed from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra). The /r/ between vowels became /z/ in…

It is borrowed from Latin intellegēns (“discerning; a connoisseur”), the present participle of intellegō (“to understand”), from inter (“between”) and legō (“to gather; to read”). It belongs with…

It is borrowed from Late Latin districtus (“territory, outskirts”), from “districtum”, the supine of Latin distringō (“to hold back, constrain”), itself from stringō (“to bind tight”). The learned…

It is borrowed from Latin surgō (“to raise; to rise, get up”). The Latin verb is a contraction of surrigō, from sub- (“up from under”) and regō (“to direct, guide”). By sound change the same Latin…

It is from French au + près. The adverb près continues Late Latin pressē (“closely”), from pressus (“pressed, close”), the past participle of premō (“to press”). Old French said emprès in the same…

It is a humorous use of “dupe” “hoopoe” (Rabelais; from the 15th century “hoopoe plumage”), for the stupid look of the bird (compare “pigeon”). That word is huppe, from Latin upupa (“hoopoe”), with…

It is the noun use of the phrase “temps advenir” “future time” (1295), later “temps à venir”, that is à and venir. Rey distinguishes it from an older noun “avenir” “success” (Froissart), from the…

1. The drink is a word of Germanic origin, borrowed from Middle Dutch bier or Middle High German bier; Rey thinks Dutch influence was the stronger, since brewing and hop growing were developed in…

It is borrowed from Latin cellula (“small room”), a diminutive of cella (“room, storeroom”). In late Latin the word was used for a prisoner's cell (before 410) and, in Christian texts, for a monk's…

It is a back-formation from the verb morguer “to treat with arrogance”, used from the 15th to the 18th century, although the noun is recorded first. The verb was borrowed from the Occitan dialects…

It is the past participle of réfugier, used as an adjective and a noun. The verb is derived from refuge, shaped after the Latin form refugium (“refuge, asylum”); refuge was borrowed from that word…

It is from French en- + merde + -er. The noun continues Latin merda (“dung, excrement”). Compare Italian merda and Spanish mierda.

It is borrowed from Latin cliēns (“protégé of a patron; vassal”). In Rome a “cliens” was the plebeian who put himself under the protection of a patrician, his “patronus” (see patron); it also named…

It is probably borrowed from Frankish *knif (“knife”), reconstructed from Old Norse knífr, which gave late Old English cnīf and English knife. Because of the age of the French words and the area…

It is borrowed from Latin facilis (“easily done; doing easily; good-natured”), from faciō (“to do, make”). Wiktionary thinks the borrowing was probably helped by Italian facile. Littré notes that…

It is borrowed from Late Latin dīrēctor (“guide, director”), formed on dīrēctum, the supine of dīrigō (“to direct”) (see diriger), from dis- and regō (“to guide, rule”).

It is borrowed from Latin exterior (“outer”), the comparative of exter (“on the outside”), refashioned with the ending of French adjectives in ⟨-eur⟩. The Latin word is formed from ex- (“out of”)…

It is borrowed from Latin īnspector (“observer; in late legal Latin, examiner, controller”), from the supine of īnspiciō (“to look into, examine”), from in- and speciō (“to look at”). Its first use…

It is formed from bloc with the verb ending -er. The noun “bloc” is borrowed from Middle Dutch blok (“felled trunk”) or Middle High German block (“trunk, block”). The military sense “to blockade” is…

The TLFi, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert derive it from the adjective calme with the verbal ending “-er”. The GLLF and Bloch and Wartburg take it instead from Italian calmare, itself from…

It is probably the Norman-Picard form of champ, borrowed from Picard camp, or the Occitan camp, taken in its military sense; the TLFi and Rey think this more likely than a borrowing from Italian…

It is borrowed from Italian importanza (“importance; important affair; authority”) (late 14th–early 15th century), from importare (“to matter”). The Italian verb is from Latin importō (“to bring…

It is formed on the stem of inventeur, which was borrowed (1454) from Latin inventor (“finder, inventor”), from inveniō (“to come upon, find”), from in- and veniō (“to come”). invention (1431) is…

It is an alteration of lapereau (about 1330) with a change of suffix, the ending perhaps taken from connin, a variant of connil (“rabbit”), the word it replaced. The Old French word, from Latin…

1. It is borrowed from Middle Dutch mannekijn (“little man; little doll”), formed with the diminutive suffix “-kijn” (English “-kin”, German “-chen”) on “man” “man”, which has cognates in all the…

It is borrowed from Latin nōrmālis (“made with a carpenter's square; conforming to the rule”), derived from nōrma (“carpenter's square; rule”) (see norme). In “école normale” the adjective means…

It is inherited from Old French secorre (“to shake”), remade after its present forms with ⟨ou⟩ (nous secouons, vous secouez, ils secouent). The Old French verb is inherited from Latin succutiō (“to…

It is a deverbal noun from rechercher. That verb is formed with re- on chercher, at first cercier (1080), cerchier, from Late Latin circō (“to go round, survey”), from circā (“around”), from circus…

It is from French chauffer + -eur. Chauffer “to heat” comes from Vulgar Latin *calefō, from classical Latin calefaciō (“to make warm”).

1. The display is derived from parer “to adorn” with the suffix -ade. Rey and the Grand Robert say the suffix follows the feminine participle ending of Provençal, Old Occitan having parada in 1366…

It is a deverbal noun from équiper. “Équiper” (Old French “eschiper”, “esquiper”) is from Old Norse skipa (“to arrange, fit out”), from skip (“ship”), according to Bloch and Wartburg and the TLFi…

It is a deverbal noun from marquer, first found in 1456 in the same northern French document as the verb. It replaced the Old French nouns merc and merque, which were borrowed from Old Norse merki…

It is a dialect variant of Old French merchier (“to put a mark on”), still used in the 16th century, formed on merc (“mark”), from Old Norse merki (“mark, boundary”). The /a/ is probably due to…

It is the French doublet of racler, which is of southern origin; the FEW files it under Vulgar Latin *rasclare. The original sense “to scrape” survives in the dialect verbs “éraler” and “déraler”…

It is borrowed from Italian banca (“bench; money-changer's counter”) (1458), which in Italian had come to mean the changer's table in the 14th century and, by extension, the lending house in the…

It is borrowed from Latin agō (“to drive; to do, act; to conduct (a case)”). “Agō” was first a pastoral word, “to drive (cattle) before one”, and was used in law for conducting a case and in the…

It is borrowed from Latin tranquillus (“calm, peaceful, serene”), used first of the sea and then of people, as opposed to “īrātus” “angry”. Rey thinks its first value may have been transparency…

It is borrowed from Latin tubus (“pipe, conduit, tube”), of the same uncertain origin as Latin tuba (“trumpet”) (see tuba). The cycling sense “racing tyre” is from English “single-tube”, and “le…

It is borrowed from Latin dētestor (“to call the gods to witness against, to curse; to abhor”). In religious Latin it meant to turn something away by invoking the gods with imprecations, and in law…

It is from French entourer + -age. Entourer (1538, Robert Estienne) is derived from entour “surroundings”, which is formed from en and tour “circuit”.

It is a learned formation on Latin ēveniō (“to come out; to turn out; to happen”), a compound of ex- and veniō (“to come”) (see venir), on the model of avènement, which until the 16th century meant…

It is borrowed from Latin orīgō (“source; beginning; descent, ancestry; cause”), taken in the form of its accusative ⟨orīginem⟩, a derivative of orior (“to rise; to spring from; to be born”), which…

It is from French in- + capable. The TLFi compares Christian Latin incapābilis (“that cannot be grasped or contained; incapable”), from which Wiktionary derives the word. capable is capābilis (“able…

The origin is uncertain. The usual view is that it is an altered form of oui, under the influence of dialect forms or through careless pronunciation, which matches speakers' own feeling, Bloch and…

It is borrowed from Italian bancarotta (15th century), literally “broken bench”, from banca (“bench, counter, bank”) and rotta (“broken”), the feminine past participle of rompere (“to break”). The…

It is borrowed from Occitan capdet (“chief, captain”), a Gascon word, corresponding to Provençal capdel, the source of cadeau; “-et” is the Gascon form of the suffix “-el”. This goes back to Late…