Online Etymology Dictionary

footman (n.): c.1300, "foot soldier;" late 14c., "one who goes on foot;" as a personal attendant, originally one who ran before or alongside his master's carriage, announcing its arrival (and keeping it from tipping over). The modern, non-jogging servant sense is from c.1700, though the running footmen still were in service mid-18c. From foot (n.) + man (n.).
footnote (n.): 1841, from foot (n.) + note (n.). So called from its original position at the foot of a page. Also sometimes formerly Bottom note. As a verb, from 1864. Related: Footnoted; footnoting.
footpad (n.): "highway robber," 1680s, from foot (n.) + pad "pathway," from Middle Dutch pad "way, path," from Proto-Germanic *patha- "way, path" (see path).
footpath (n.): also foot-path 1520s, from foot (n.) + path.
footprint (n.): 1550s, from foot (n.) + print. Related: Footprints. Old English had fotspor, fotswæð.
footsie (n.): "amorous play with the feet" [OED], 1944, from foot (n.).
footsore (adj.): also foot-sore, 1719, from foot (n.) + sore (adj.).
footstep (n.): early 13c., "footprint," from foot (n.) + step (n.). Meaning "a tread or fall of the foot" is first attested 1530s. Figurative expression to follow in (someone's) footsteps is from 1540s.
footstool (n.): also foot-stool, 1520s, from foot (n.) + stool.
fop (n.): mid-15c., "foolish person," of unknown origin, perhaps related to fob (v.), German foppen "jeer at, make a fool of." Sense of "dandy" is from 1660s.
foppery (n.): 1540s, "foolish action," from fop + -ery. Meaning "behavior and manner of a fop" is from 1690s; meaning "foppish attire" is from 1711.
foppish (adj.): c.1600, from fop + -ish. Related: Foppishly; fopishness.
for (prep.): Old English for "for, before, on account of," from Proto-Germanic *fura (cf. Old Saxon furi "before," Old Frisian for, Middle Dutch vore, Dutch voor "for, before;" German für "for;" Danish for "for," før "before;" Gothic faur "for," faura "before"); see fore (adv.).

Use of for and fore gradually was differentiated in Middle English. Its use alone as a conjunction (not found before 12c.) probably is a shortening of common Old English phrases such as for þon þy "therefore," literally "for the (reason) that."
for-: prefix usually meaning "away, opposite, completely," from Old English for-, indicating loss or destruction, or completion, also used as an intensive or pejorative element, which is related to Old Norse for-, Dutch ver-, Old High German fir-, German ver-; from PIE *pr-, from root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per). Probably originally in Germanic with a sense of "forward, forth," but with complex sense developments in the various languages. Ultimately from the same root as fore (adv.).
forage (n.): early 14c. (late 13c. as Anglo-Latin foragium), from Old French forrage "fodder, foraging, pillaging, looting" (12c., Modern French fourrage), from fuerre "hay, straw, forage, fodder" (Modern French feurre) "fodder, straw," from Frankish *fodr "food" or a similar Germanic source (cf. Old High German fuotar, Old English fodor); see fodder). Military forage cap attested by 1827.
forage (v.): early 15c., from Middle French fourrager, from fourage (Old French forrage; see forage (n.)). Related: Foraged; foraging.
forager (n.): late 14c., from Old French foragier, from forrage (see forage (n.)).
foramen (n.): plural foramina, 1670s, from Latin foramen "hole, opening, aperture, orifice," from forare "to pierce" (see bore (v.)).
Foraminifera: 1835, Modern Latin, neuter plural of foraminifer "bearing holes," from Latin foramen "hole, opening, orifice" (see foramen) + -fer "bearing," from ferre "to bear" (see infer). So called because the shells usually are perforated by pores. Related: Foraminiferous.
foray (n.): late 14c., Scottish, from the verb (14c.), perhaps a back-formation of Middle English forreyer "raider, forager" (mid-14c.), from Old French forrier, from forrer "to forage" (see forage (n.)). Disused by 18c.; revived by Scott.
forb (n.): 1924, from Greek phorbe "fodder, forage."
forbade: past tense of forbid.
forbear (v.): "to abstain," Old English forberan "bear up against, control one's feelings, endure," from for- + beran "to bear" (see bear (v.)). Related: Forbearer; forbearing; forbore.
forbear (n.): "ancestor," late 15c., from fore "before" + be-er "one who exists;" agent noun from be.
forbearance (n.): 1570s, originally legal, in reference to enforcement of debt obligations, from forbear (v.) + -ance. General sense of "refraining from" is from 1590s.
Forbes: U.S. financial publication, founded 1917 by Scottish-born Wall Street journalist B.C. Forbes (1880-1954) and publisher Walter Drey.
forbid (v.): Old English forbeodan "forbid, prohibit," from for- "against" + beodan "to command" (see bid). Common Germanic compound (cf. Dutch verbieden, Old High German farbiotan, German verbieten, Old Norse fyrirbjoða, Gothic faurbiudan "to forbid"). Related: Forbade; forbidden.
forbidding (adj.): "uninviting," 1712, present participle adjective from forbid. Related: Forbiddingly; forbiddingness.
forbore: past tense of forbear (v.).
force (n.): c.1300, "physical strength," from Old French force (12c.) "force, strength, courage, fortitude; violence, power, compulsion," from Vulgar Latin *fortia (cf. Spanish fuerza, Italian forza), noun use of neuter plural of Latin fortis "strong" (see fort). Meaning "body of armed men, army" first recorded late 14c. (also in Old French). Physics sense is from 1660s; force field attested by 1920.
force (v.): c.1300, from Old French forcier "conquer by violence," from force (see force (n.)). Its earliest sense in English was "to ravish" (a woman); sense of "to compel, oblige" to do something is from c.1400. Related: Forced; forcing.
force majeure: 1883, French, literally "superior strength."
force-feed (v.): by 1909, from force (n.) + feed (v.). Related: Force-fed; force-feeding.
forced (adj.): "not spontaneous or voluntary," 1570s, past participle adjective from force (v.). The flier's forced landing attested by 1917.
forceful (adj.): 1570s, from force (n.) + -ful. Related: Forcefully; forcefulness.
forcemeat (n.): also force-meat, "mincemeat," 1680s, from force "to stuff," a variant of farce (q.v.) + meat.
forceps (n.): 1560s, from Latin forceps "pair of tongs, pincers," compound of formus "hot" (see warm (adj.)) + root of capere "to hold, take" (see capable). Originally a smith's implement. The classical plural is forcipes.
forcible (adj.): early 15c., from Middle French forcible, from Old French forcier (see force (n.)). Related: Forcibly.
ford (v.): 1610s, from ford (n.). Related: Forded; fording.
ford (n.): Old English ford "shallow place where water can be crossed," from Proto-Germanic *furdhus (cf. Old Frisian forda, Old High German furt, German Furt "ford"), from PIE *prtu- "a going, a passage" (cf. Latin portus "harbor," originally "entrance, passage;" Old Welsh rit, Welsh rhyd "ford;" Old English faran "to go;" see port (n.1)). The line of automobiles is named for U.S. manufacturer Henry Ford (1863-1947).
fore (adv.): Old English fore (prep.) "before, in front of;" (adv.) "before, previously," common Germanic (cf. Old High German fora, Old Frisian fara, German vor, Gothic faiura, Old Norse fyrr "for"); from PIE *pr-, from root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per).

As a noun, from 1630s. The warning cry in golf is first recorded 1878, probably a contraction of before.
fore (adj.): mid-15c., "forward;" late 15c., "former, earlier;" early 16c., "at the front;" all senses apparently from fore- compounds, which frequently were written as two words in Middle English.
fore-: from fore (adv.), which was used as a prefix in Old English and other Germanic languages with a sense of "before in time, rank, position," etc., or designating the front part or earliest time.
forearm (n.): 1741, from fore- + arm (1).
forearm (v.): 1590s, from fore- + arm (v.) "take up weapons." Related: Forearmed; forearming.
forebear: see forbear. Related: Forebearance; forebears.
forebode (v.): "feel a secret premonition," c.1600, from fore- + bode. Related: Foreboded; foreboding. Old English forebodian meant "to announce, declare."
foreboding (n.): late 14c., "a predilection, portent, omen," from fore- + verbal noun from bode. Meaning "sense of something bad about to happen" is from c.1600. Old English forebodung meant "prophecy."
forecast (v.): late 14c., "to scheme," from fore- "before" + casten "contrive." Meaning "predict events" first attested late 15c. Related: Forecasted; forecasting.
forecast (n.): early 15c., probably from forecast (v.); earliest sense was "forethought, prudence;" meaning "conjectured estimate of a future course" is from 1670s. A Middle English word for weather forecasting was aeromancy.