enchesoun

• enchaison, encheson, enchesun, encheyson
• enchesoune, enchesown, enchesowne, incheson, inchessoun (Late Middle English)

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman enchaisun, enchoison, alteration of achaisun, achoison (see achesoun, chesoun) after the prefix en-. By surface analysis, en- +‎ chesoun (“cause, reason”).

• IPA^(key): /ɛnt͡ʃɛːˈzuːn/, /ɛnˈt͡ʃɛːzun/

enchesoun (plural enchesouns) (chiefly Late Middle English)

1. A motivation, reason, or justification:
   • late 1300s, Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Squire’s Tale’, Canterbury Tales:

     Which proveth wel that outher ire or drede / Moot been enchesoun of youre cruel dede.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   1. A justification for a charge or condemnation.
   2. (rare) An excuse or opportunity.
2. A cause; the source of an effect.
3. (rare) An occasion or instantiation.

• chesoun (in most senses)

• English: encheason (obsolete)
• Middle Scots: enchesoun, enchessoun

• “enchēsǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.