Where does “tenable” come from?
Tenable comes from French tenable, derived from French tenir meaning to hold, traced through Middle French tenir and Old French tenir to Latin tenere and teneo, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ten-.
tenable (English): capable of being maintained or justified;...
Definitions
- capable of being maintained or justified;...
Ancestry of “tenable”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | French | tenable | tenable |
| 2 | French | tenir | to have; to hold; to keep; to take ; to consider;... |
| 3 | Middle French | tenir | to hold |
| 4 | Old French | tenir | to possess; to have; to hold |
| 5 | Latin | teneō | — |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | tenēō | to hold |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ten- | to stretch, to extend |
Words derived from “tenable”