Where does “tempt” come from?
Tempt comes from Middle English tempten, from Old French tempter, from Latin tempto, ultimately from Latin teneo meaning to hold.
tempt (English): To provoke someone to do wrong, especially by...
Definitions
- To provoke someone to do wrong, especially by...
Ancestry of “tempt”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | tempten | to tempt |
| 2 | Old French | tempter | to tempt; to act as a temptation |
| 3 | Latin | temptō | to test the strength; to make an attack upon |
| 4 | Latin | tendō | to stretch, stretch out, distend, extend |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | τένων | tendon, sinew |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ten- | to stretch, to extend |
Words derived from “tempt”