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
tense traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English tens
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | tens | tense |
| 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... |
via Latin tēnsus
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | tēnsus | Stretched, stretched out, extended, distended |