Where does “tense” come from?
Tense comes from Latin tensus, the past participle of Latin teneo, meaning to hold or stretch.
tense (English): Any of the forms of a verb which distinguish when...
Definitions
- Any of the forms of a verb which distinguish when...
Ancestry of “tense”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | tens | — |
| 2 | Old French | tens | Alternative form of tans |
| 3 | Latin | tempus | time, period, age; season; kairos, right time,... |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | tempos | stretch |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | temp- | to extend, stretch, span; to stetch, string; to... |
Words derived from “tense”