Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “attend” come from?

Attend comes from Old French atendre, from Latin attendere meaning to stretch toward, composed of the prefix ad- and tendere meaning to stretch.

attend (English): To listen to ; to pay attention to; regard; heed;...

Definitions

  1. To listen to ; to pay attention to; regard; heed;...

Ancestry of “attend”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishattendento attend
2Old Frenchatendreto wait
3Latinattendō—
4Latinad-to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it...
5Latinīn-—
6Latinîn—
7Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
8Proto-Italicenin
9Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “attend”

  • attending
  • attendee
  • attendeth
  • nonattending
  • disattend
  • unattending
  • attendest
  • reattend
  • attendable
  • overattend
  • misattend
  • coattend
  • reattender
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →