Word origins

• pur-In words borrowed through Anglo-Norman: involving forward movement or completeness.
• purblindOf a person: having impaired vision; partially blind; dim-sighted.
• purlieuThe ground on the edges of a forest, especially when partly subject to the same forest laws concerning game hunting etc.
• purloinTo take the property of another, often in breach of trust; to appropriate wrongfully; to steal.
• purposerSomeone who purposes something.
• purprestureThe unlawful personal appropriation of public lands; wrongful encroachment on, or enclosure of properties belonging to the public (e.g. highways, sidewalks, forests, harbors).
• pursefulAs much as a purse can hold.
• pursyOut of breath; short of breath, especially due to fatness.
• purveyanceThe act of purveying.
• puttockAny of several birds of prey including the red kite, buzzard and marsh harrier
• pyramisA pyramid.
• pyromancerOne who performs pyromancy.
• quaderTo quadrate.
• quadrilogueA discourse or colloquy by four people.
• quagQuagmire; marsh; bog.
• quarternA quarter part; one fourth.
• quaveTo quiver or tremble.
• quealTo faint away.
• queanA woman, now especially an impudent or disreputable woman; a prostitute.
• quemeTo please, to satisfy.
• querkTo throttle; choke; stifle; suffocate.
• querkenTo querk.
• questionlessCertain; indubitable; unquestionable; not admitting of question or doubt.
• quickbeamThe European rowan tree.
• quickenerOne who, or that which, quickens, hastens, or speeds up an object or action.
• quinchTo twitch, as if in pain; flinch, wince.
• quinsyA peritonsillar abscess; a painful pus-filled inflammation or abscess of the tonsils and surrounding tissues, usually a complication of tonsillitis, caused by bacterial infection and often accompanied by fever.
• quitchTo shake (something); to stir, move.
• quittanceA release or acquittal.
• quittorA chronic abscess, or fistula of the coronet, in a horse's foot, resulting from inflammation of the tissues investing the coffin bone.
• quobTo throb; to quiver.
• quobbyMarshy, boggy.
• quopTo throb or beat.
• rackanA chain or bar drilled with holes to accommodate pot-hooks from which cooking vessels can be suspended over a fire; a pot-hook.
• rackleA chain.
• radicationThe process of taking root, or state of being rooted.
• radiousradiant
• raikA walk, or a journey taken (especially on foot); the act of taking a walk or journey.
• rainwormAn earthworm.
• raising pieceA piece of timber laid on a brick wall, or on a frame, to carry one or more beams.
• rammishResembling a ram
• ramsonsA wild relative of chives, of species Allium ursinum, having edible leaves and roots.
• ranklyIn a rank manner.
• ranknessThe quality of being rank, of having a repulsive or pungent odor.
• ransomerA person who pays a ransom.
• rape oilSynonym of rapeseed oil.
• rarefyTo make rare, thin, porous, or less dense.
• rasureScraping the surface of a parchment etc. in order to erase something from the document; erasure, more generally.
• rathelTo fix; root.
• rationabilitySynonym of rationality or reasonability.
• rationableSuitable for being rationed.
• rattlewortRattlebox.
• rattonA rat.
• rattonerA ratcatcher.
• raven's footCinquefoil; potentilla.
• raxleTo stretch oneself; rouse up from sleep.
• re-again, anew
• reading bookA type of book designed for individuals who are learning to read in a particular language.
• ready-madePreexisting or made previously and suitable for use without further preparation or modification; comparable with regard to the amount of preparation required.
• reardA voice; a sound.
• reasonlessLacking reason or purpose.
• reaveTo plunder, pillage, rob, pirate, or remove.
• rebellerOne who rebels; a rebel.
• receptoryA receptacle, a container .
• recidivationRelapse of a disease or a symptom.
• recidiveSynonym of recidivous (“recurring”).
• recoverancerecovery
• recuperablerecoverable
• recurableCurable, restorable.
• recureTo cure, heal.
• -redA suffix forming nouns of condition or state.
• redargueTo disprove or refute (someone) in an argument.
• redemptorOne who redeems (especially used of Jesus).
• red gumCorymbia calophylla (marri), native to Western Australia, with red gum effusions.
• red-gumA rash in infants marked by red or sometimes whitish papules surrounded by reddish halos and popularly associated with teething distress; strophulus.
• red wineRed-coloured wine made mostly from black grapes, including the skin.
• reedenMade from reeds.
• reedingThatching.
• reekySoiled with smoke or steam; smoky; foul.
• refretTo replace the frets on (a musical instrument).
• regalityRoyalty; sovereignty; sovereign jurisdiction.
• regardantWith the head turned toward the back of the body.
• registererOne who registers.
• rejoyTo rejoice
• -relpejorative suffix
• relevationA raising or lifting up
• remedilessNot having a remedy; not capable of being remedied.
• remeidLegal redress of a wrong.
• remewTo remove.
• remordTo feel remorse.
• -renUsed to form the plural of nouns
• rencounterTo meet, encounter, come into contact with.
• rent seckA right to receive rent where the tenant's goods cannot be seized as security for the payment of rent.
• representativelyIn a representative manner.
• repugnancyThe quality of being repugnant: offensiveness, repulsion.
• rerebraceArmour for the upper part of the arm.
• reredemainA backward stroke of the hand.
• reredorterA latrine situated at the rear of a medieval monastery or convent.
• reredosA screen or decoration behind the altar in a church, usually depicting religious iconography or images, akin to the iconostasis of the Eastern Churches.
• reremouseA bat (flying mammal).