Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “tenant” come from?

Tenant comes from Old French tenant, from Latin tenēns, the present participle of Latin tenēre meaning "to hold," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ten-.

tenant (English): One who pays a fee in return for the use of...

Definitions

  1. One who pays a fee in return for the use of...

Ancestry of “tenant”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishtenaunt—
2Anglo-NormantenauntAlternative form of tenant; Alternative form of...
3Old Frenchtenantholder; possessor ; tenant; holder; owner
4Latintenensholding, having; restraining; knowing, grasping,...
5Latinteneō—
6Proto-Italictenēōto hold
7Proto-Indo-Europeanten-to stretch, to extend

Words derived from “tenant”

  • tenancy
  • tenantry
  • tenantless
  • subtenant
  • cotenant
  • tenantable
  • untenantable
  • cotenancy
  • multitenant
  • subtenancy
  • undertenant
  • nontenant
  • untenant
  • multitenancy
  • tenantship
  • protenant
  • tenantlike
  • undertenancy
  • tenantableness
  • nontenancy
  • tenant
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ten- →