Where does “tennis” come from?
Tennis derives from Old French tenez, the imperative form of Old French tenir, from Latin tenere, meaning to hold or grasp, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ten-.
tennis (English): A sport played by two players , who alternately...
Definitions
- A sport played by two players , who alternately...
Ancestry of “tennis”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | tenez | second-person plural present indicative of tenir;... |
| 2 | Old French | tenir | to possess; to have; to hold |
| 3 | Latin | teneō | — |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | tenēō | to hold |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | ten- | to stretch, to extend |
Words derived from “tennis”