Etymograph

English

extent

Extent comes from Anglo-Norman extente, from Latin extendō ‘to stretch out’, from tendō ‘to stretch’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*téndeti1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tendō1‘to stretch’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtendō1‘to stretch’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextendō2as extendere‘to stretch or thrust out’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400extente2‘valuation; stretch of land’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500extente2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590extent2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin extendo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English extent
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto XII: “But when they came where that dead Dragon lay,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*téndetiWiktionary, Latin extendoreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tendōWiktionary, Latin extendo‘to stretch’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtendōWiktionary, Latin extendo‘to stretch’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextendōWiktionary, English extentas extendere‘to stretch or thrust out’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400extenteWiktionary, English extent‘valuation; stretch of land’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500extenteWiktionary, English extent
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590extentWiktionary, English extent. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto XII: “But when they came where that dead Dragon lay,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *tendō ‘to stretch’

pretend, attendance, tender, intend, intentional, hypertension, contend, 37 more

through Latin tendō

attention, tend, tension, intention, tense, contention, tempt, 51 more

Today it means

noun A range of values or locations.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “extent”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin extendo. 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 / extent

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