This is a list of Germanic (mostly Old) English words that have been displaced by non-Germanic loanwords from other languages (mostly Latinate words), organized by the displacing words. Germanic words that were borrowed from non-Germanic languages, such as helmet, are not included, even if they include non-Germanic affixes. Such words are worthy of their own list, but I will leave that up to someone else. Very old borrowings (Old English and earlier) are counted as "Germanic" for the purposes of this list.

All of the data is from Wiktionary etymologies unless otherwise noted; it is not independently verified. Some, but not all, ME spellings checked with the Middle English Dictionary.

I add words as I come across them in my free time. If you know of some words that would make good additions to the table, feel free to add them! Just make sure they fit stylistically:

One spelling per word, please don't crowd the table with alternate spellings. The relevant Wiktionary pages should have those.

Keep the table in alphabetical order

Make sure you put each piece of information in the right column.

When adding families of words (an OE word, an ME descendant, and a (presumably rare) modern English descendant), please space them with line breaks so that they line up, it makes the table much more readable.

If you're not sure how to do the above, you can add your suggestions to the Talk page and I will add them.

Table of displaced words [ edit ]

The "Descendants" column lists modern descendants of displaced words, in those cases where the displaced words still survive, typically in different or limited senses, or otherwise limited in use (dialectal, rare, etc).

General A-C [ edit ]

Word Middle English Old English Source of displacing word Descendants Notes abandon abandounen

forleten

forleven

forsaken





forlesen

forlǣtan

forlǣfan

forsacan

ofġiefan

oferlēoran

forlēosan Old French abandoner

forlet

forleave

forsake







Old French abandoner is originally from a Germanic loan. age age

elde







ieldu

aldor ealdor

aldhād Latin aetātem aage

eld



oldhood agree agreen





























ġecwēman

ġemōdsumian

ġerisnian

ġeþwǣrian

ġeþafian

ġeþwǣrlǣċan

sehtan

þæslǣċan

ġeemnettan

ġecweþan

ġesprecan

efencuman

sēman

acordan Old French agreer ad gratum

























OE acordan was a word borrowed from Latin accordō. agreeable agreable





















cwēme

cinelīċ

ġecwēmlīċ

ġecwēmsum

ġedafenlīċ

ġedēfe

ġemēde

þwǣre ġeþwǣre

wynsumlīċ

līcwyrþe Old French agreable















winsome

likeworthy air air

luft lift

loft

lyft

Latin āēr aire

lift

loft ME loft is from Old Norse lopt. animal animal

deor

neet







dēor

nēat

nīeten

wilddēor wildēor Latin animal animal

deer

neat



wilderness annoy annoien

grillen

drecchen

tenen

irken

grillan

dreċċan

tēonian tȳnan



Latin inodiō enuier

grill

dretch

teen tine

irk







ME irken was borrowed from Old Norse yrkja appearance wlite











wlite wlitu

andwlita

hiw

mǣġwlite

onwlāt

ansīen Latin apparentia apparence army armee

here

ferde

here

fyrd Medieval Latin armāta armee

here

ferd fyrd art art

craft creft

liste

cræft

list Latin artem art

craft

list artificial artificiel cræftlīċ Latin artificialis artificiel craftly OE cræftlīċ may be a calque of Latin artificialis. aunt aunte

modrie

mome



mōdriġe

*mōme

faþu faþe Latin amita ante battle batel





















beadu beadulāc

hild

orrest

gūþ

camp campwīġ

bilġesleht

cumbelġehnād

cumbolġehnāst

feoht ġefeoht

wīġ Latin via Old French bataille















fight

beautiful beautefull

schene

wliti



feier fager

cumly cumlich







scīene

wlitiġ

cyrten

fæġer

cymelīċ

lēoflīċ

hīwe



Latin bellus beauté

sheen





fair

comely





Although beauty derives from Old French, beautiful is a purely internal English formation boil boillen

sethen

wellen

plaȝen plawen







sēoþan

wiellan

plagian

æþmian

āweallan Latin bullīre boillir

seethe



plaw



cabbage caboche cawel

brassica Anglo-Norman caboche kale colewort OE cawel and brassica are from Latin. caesar cesar

caiser kaiser

keiser cāsere Latin Caesar

OE cāsere is also from Latin.

Middle English keiser is from Old Norse keisari. carrot more moru Latin carōta carotte more Cognate to morel. catch cacchen

fangen

lacchen

henden

fōn

læċċan

ġehendan Latin captare cachier

fang

latch cause cause

andwork

sake

andweorc

sacu Latin causa cause

endwork

sake certain certain



wis iwis





cūþlīċ

ġewiss

sicor Latin certus certain



wis iwis

sicker chair chaire

stool

settle

sete







stōl

setl



set



Ancient Greek καθέδρα ( kathédra ) via Latin cathēdra chaiere

stool

settle

seat





ME sete was borrowed from Old Norse sæti. city cite

burgh borough

sted stede









burh

stede

burgsteal

burhstede

byriġ Latin cīvitās cité

borough

stead







clear clere

schir

skere

smolt

scīr

scǣre

smolt Latin clarus cler





smolt colour colour

blee

hewe



lit

blēo

hīew

færbu



Latin color colour

blee

hue



lit







ME lit was borrowed from Old Norse litr. common comun

imene ȝemǣne

ġemǣne Latin commūnis comun

mean compel compellen

fordriven





















fordrīfan

ġeþrafian

ānȳdan

ġenēadian

ġeþēowan

drǣfan

ābǣdan

ġeþrēatnian

ġebǣdan

bedrīfan

wrecan Latin compellere compellir

fordrive









dreave



threaten



bedrive

wreak confess confessen

andetten

kithen







knowlechen

andettan

ġecȳþan

ġecennan

ġesecgan

cȳþlǣċan

*cnāwelǣċan Latin confessus confessō confesser



kithe







acknowledge

corpse lich







līċ

hrǣw

nēo

wæl Latin corpus cors lich







Lich survives in fantasy works as a term for a type of undead. courteous curteis

hende













ġehende

fremsum

mannþwǣre

mǣþfull

ārcræftiġ

glædmōd Old French curteis cors cover coveren

thecchen bethecchen

helen

wrien

















dekken þeċċean beþeccan

helan

wrēon

behelian

behlīdan

āhwylfan

behelman

beteldan

forbreġdan

beþennan

beweġan

Latin cooperio covrir

thatch bethatch

hele

wry

















deck





















ME dekken was borrowed from Middle Dutch dekken, and is cognate with thatch. cream creme

reme

fleten ( verb )

rēam

flīete Old French creme

ream

fleet ( verb )



Survives in Modern English fleet ( “ to skim (milk) ” ) creature creature

ȝesceafte schafte

schepþe



ġesceaft sceaft

ġesceap



Latin creare creatura creature



shape custom custume

cure

side

wune

cyre

sidu

wuna Latin cōnsuētūdinem coustume





wone

General D-F [ edit ]

Word Middle English Old English Source of displacing word Descendants Notes delicious delicious

este

wunlic





ēste

wynlīċ

ārlīċ Latin deliciō dēliciōsu delicious destiny destiny

dome



werde

dōm

orlæġ

wyrd Latin dēstinō destinee

doom

orlay

weird wyrd Modern orlay and wyrd were borrowed from OE. destroy destroyen

diliȝen

shenden

dīlġian

scendan Latin dēstruō destruire

shend Dīlġian may ultimately be from dēleō, which would make it cognate to delete. disease disese

adle

cothe

ādl

coþu Old French desaise

adle

coath doctor doctor

leche

lerere

larew





lǣċa lǣċe

lǣrestre *lǣra

lārēow

dohter Latin doctor via Anglo-Norman doctour

leech

OE dohter was a borrowing from Latin doctor dominion rike



























rīċe

dōm

rīċedōm

ānweald ānġeweald

ġeweald ġewyld

hlāforddōm

āgenung

rīċetere

rīcsung

wealdnes

meaht

bregostōl

cynedōm

cyningdōm Latin dominium dominio dominion

rike -ric rich

eldritch





wield

lorddom















kingdom



In the noun sense, rīċe completely gave way to other words (including native ones like kingdom), but its descendant rich remains common as an adjective. eagle egle

earn

earn Latin aquila aigle

erne encourage encoragen

belden bealden

herten



bieldan bealdian

hiertan

elnian Old French encoragier cor endure enduren

dreghen





drēogan

þolian

beran Latin indūrō endurer

dree

thole

bear enemy enemy

feend











fēond

unwine

wiþersaca

hettend

sceaþa

andsaca Latin inimīcus enemi

fiend









envy envie

ande

nith

anda

nīþ Latin invidia envie exchange eschaungen

wrixlen

wrixlan Late Latin ex- cambiō eschanger

wrixle explain explanen

arecchen

irecchen

āreccan

ġereccan Latin explanō explaner face face

anlet



neb

leer

andwlita

ansīen

nebb

hlēor Latin facies face





neb

leer fate dome



werde dōm

orlæġ

wyrd Latin fata doom

orlay

weird wyrd Modern orlay and wyrd were borrowed from OE. fault faulte





lak

last

schuld

gilt

forsceap forscapung

afūl



læst

scyld

gylt Latin falsus faute





lack



shild shildy

guilt OE læst is from Old Norse lǫstr foreign forein

elendish

eltheodish

fremede

elelendisc ellende

elþēodiġ elþēodisc

fremde fremeþe Latin forās forain





fremd fruit fruit

blede

ovet

wastum

blēd

ofett

wæstm Latin fructus fruit



ovest

future future tōweard Latin futūrus futur toward

General G-L [ edit ]

Word Middle English Old English Source of displacing word Descendants Notes giant geant

ettin

eont

thurs

ēoten

ent

þyrs Latin gigās via Old French geant

ettin

ent

thurse Ent resurrected by J. R. R. Tolkien. glorious wuldrig









wuldrig

brēme

hrēþiġ

hrēdēadiġ

mǣrlīċ

þrymlīċ Latin glōriōsus via Old French glorius grace grace

held

este

athmede

are

held

ēste

ēadmēdu

ār Latin grātia via Old French grace gracious gracious hold Latin grātiōsus via Old French gracieus hero haleth hæleþ Latin hērōs via Old French heroes honor honour

menske

























ār āre

ārweorþnes

ārwurþung

ġeþingþu

mēdumnes

weorþmynd

ēstfulnes

indryhto

weorþscipe

wuldor

tīr Latin honor via Old French honor

mensk mense

















worship





ME menske, mensk is from Old Norse menska. hospitality hospitalite giest-līþnys Latin hospitālitās via Old French hospitalité OE giest-līþnys is equivalent to guestlitheness, guest + litheness. Compare guestfriendship; guestfriendliness human ? guma

wer Latin hūmānus via Middle French humain groom

Modern groom is a shortened from bridegroom. A modern descendant of wer is still found in werewolf. immaculate immaculat

unwemmed



unwemme

unġewemmed

unāwemmedlīċ

unmǣle Latin immaculātus interpreter interpreter









wealhstod

ǣrynde

reccere

trahtere

wendere Latin interpretor irritate ? ābelgan Latin irritare joy joye

wunne

hught



wynn

hyht

ġefēa Latin gaudium via Late Latin gaudia via Old French joie juice jus

wos

wōs Latin jūs via Old French jus

ooze justice justice

rightwisnes



fæȝernesse

rihtwīsnes

ġerihte

fæġernes Latin iustitia via Old French justise

righteousness

right

fairness language

language

londspreche

rearde



leden lede

speche

tonge



*landsprǣċ

reord

þēodisc

lēoden

sprǣċ

tunge Latin lingua via Old French language





reard



leid

speech

tongue large large

stour

muchel

gret

stōr

miċel

grēat Latin larga via Old French large

stour

much mickle

great leisure leisir

lethe

tom

liþian

Latin licēre via Old French loisir ME tom is from Old Norse tóm ( “ leisure ” ) , not from OE tōm ( “ empty, free ” ) . letter letter

bocstaff

bocrune

writrune





bōcstæf

bōc rūn

writ rūn

ǣrendbōc

ǣrendġewrit Latin littera via Old French letre

bookstaff







OE ǣrendbōc, ǣrendġewrit meant a written communication, while bōcstæf, bōcrūn, writrūn meant a symbol of the alphabet. library librarie

bochous

bōchūs Latin librarium via Old French librairie

bookhouse

General M-R [ edit ]

General S-Z [ edit ]

Affixes [ edit ]

Proper nouns [ edit ]

To-add list [ edit ]

Please add suggestions on the Talk page.

Later (ME+) Germanic indirect borrowings, perhaps to be added as a separate table:

war, wig; helmet, helm; forest, weald/frith; guard/warden/guardian, ward; reward, lean/mede/scipe; cross; cry;

Most of w:Changes to Old English vocabulary would be appropriate for this page.

Month names. Which table should these go under, general or proper nouns, or perhaps a separate one?

ReordCræft's contributions have quite a few OE translations of modern words, some of them may be appropriate for the list.