Where does “tenderhearted” come from?
Tenderhearted derives from English tender, itself from English tend, ultimately tracing through Chinese 兒 and Latin tendere, meaning "to stretch or extend."
tenderhearted (English): Compassionate for another's distress; Easily...
Definitions
- Compassionate for another's distress; Easily...
Ancestry of “tenderhearted”, step by step
tenderhearted 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 hearted
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | hearted | simple past tense and past participle of heart;... |
| 2 | Middle English | herted | Having a specified disposition, emotion, or... |
| 3 | Middle English | herte | The heart; One's inner self; the mind or... |
| 4 | Old English | heorte | heart |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | hertā | heart |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | hertô | heart |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱḗr | heart |