Where does “tenderfoot” come from?
Tenderfoot comes from English tender and English foot, with tender deriving from Latin tendere meaning to stretch or extend, and foot from Chinese 兒.
tenderfoot (English): An inexperienced person; a novice; A newcomer or...
Definitions
- An inexperienced person; a novice; A newcomer or...
Ancestry of “tenderfoot”, step by step
tenderfoot traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English tender
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | tender | Sensitive or painful to the touch; Easily bruised... |
| 2 | English | tend | To make a tender of; to offer or tender; To be... |
| 3 | Middle English | tenden | To ignite; to light or set on fire |
| 4 | Middle English | attenden | to attend |
| 5 | Old French | atendre | to wait |
| 6 | Latin | attendō | to pay attention, attend (to), direct the attention towards |
| 7 | Latin | ad- | to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it... |
| 8 | Latin | īn- | un-, non-, not |
| 9 | Latin | în | in, at, on, upon, from (space) |
| 10 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |
via English foot
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | foot | A biological structure found in many animals that... |
| 2 | Middle English | fot | foot; The bottom, lower part or foundation of... |
| 3 | Old English | fōt | foot |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | fōt | foot |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | fōts | foot |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | pṓds | foot |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | póds | foot |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ped- | to walk, to step; to stumble, to fall |