Etymograph

English

detent

Detent comes from French détente, from Latin tendō ‘to stretch’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *téndeti.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*téndeti1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tendō1‘to stretch’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtendō2‘to stretch’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentdétente2
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1972detent2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin tendo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English detent
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1972, er et al., United States Patent 3760640: “A UHF tuner having 70 detent positions with fine…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*téndetiWiktionary, Latin tendoreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tendōWiktionary, Latin tendo‘to stretch’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtendōWiktionary, English detent‘to stretch’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentdétenteWiktionary, English detent
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1972detentWiktionary, English detent. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1972, er et al., United States Patent 3760640: “A UHF tuner having 70 detent positions with fine…”

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *tendō ‘to stretch’

extend, attendance, pretend, intend, tender, intentional, hypertension, contend, pretense, hypotension, inattention, pretension, portend, entendre, 27 more

through Latin tendō ‘to stretch’

attention, extensive, extension, tend, tension, extent, intention, tense, contention, tempt, tensor, tensile, extensible, entente, portent, 43 more

Today it means

noun That which locks or unlocks a movement; a catch (stopping mechanism), pawl, or dog; especially, in clockwork, the catch which locks and unlocks the wheelwork in striking.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “detent”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin tendo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *téndeti / detent

Shirt and support for this word