Where does “tenten” come from?

tenten (English) comes from Japanese 点々, from Japanese 点, from Middle Chinese 點 — mark, spot; dot, mark.

tenten (English): A diacritic used with Japanese kana to mark a...

Definitions

  1. A diacritic used with Japanese kana to mark a...

Ancestry of “tenten”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese点々dots; specks; Synonym of 濁点; scattered here and...
2Japanese点spot, dot; score, grade, mark; point
3Middle Chinese點mark, spot; dot, mark
Every word from Middle Chinese 點 →Every word from Japanese 点 →Every word from Japanese 点々 →
tenten — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer