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ten- [ten]prefix combining formTENO-: used before a vowel
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To stretch.Derivatives include tendon, pretend, hypotenuse, tenement, tenor, entertain, lieutenant, and tone.I. Derivatives with the basic meaning.1. Suffixed form *ten-do-.a. tend1, tender2, tense1, tent1; attend, contend, detent, distend, extend, intend, ostensible, pretend, subtend, from Latin tendere, to stretch, extend;b. portend, from Latin portendere, “to stretch out before” (por-, variant of pro-, before; see per1), a technical term in augury, “to indicate, presage, foretell.”2. Suffixed form *ten-yo-. tenesmus; anatase, bronchiectasis, catatonia, entasis, epitasis, hypotenuse, neoteny, peritoneum, protasis, syntonic, telangiectasia, from Greek teinein, to stretch, with o-grade form ton- and zero-grade noun tasis (< *tn̥-ti-), a stretching, tension, intensity.5. Basic form (with stative suffix) *ten-ē-. tenable, tenacious, tenaculum, tenant, tenement, tenet, tenon, tenor, tenure, tenuto; abstain, contain, continue, detain, entertain, lieutenant, maintain, obtain, pertain, pertinacious, rein, retain, retinaculum, retinue, sustain, from Latin tenēre, to hold, keep, maintain (< “to cause to endure or continue, hold on to”).6. Extended form *ten-s-. Suffixed zero-grade form *tn̥s-elo-. tussah, from Sanskrit tasaram, shuttle.II. Derivatives meaning “stretched,” hence “thin.”1. Suffixed zero-grade form *tn̥-u-. thin, from Old English thynne, thin, from Germanic *thunniz, from *thunw-.2. Suffixed full-grade form *ten-u-. tenuous; attenuate, extenuate, from Latin tenuis, thin, rare, fine.3. Suffixed full-grade form *ten-ero-. tender1, tendril; intenerate, from Latin tener, tender, delicate.III. Derivatives meaning “something stretched or capable of being stretched, a string.”2. Suffixed o-grade form *ton-o-. tone; baritone, tonoplast, from Greek tonos, string, hence sound, pitch.[Pokorny 1. ten- 1065.]* * *
Universalium. 2010.
