English
tend
Tend comes from Middle English tenden, from Old French tendre ‘to stretch, hold forth’, from Latin tendō ‘to stretch’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ten- ‘to stretch’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ten-1‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tend-1‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*téndeti2reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tendō2‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtendō1as tendere‘to stretch’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400tendre1‘to stretch’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600tendre1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tenden1‘to proceed or move’
- Englishearliest quotation 1811tend1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English tend
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin tendo
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1811, Jane Austen, London: […] C[harles] Roworth: “She had found in her everything that could tend…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ten-Wiktionary, English tend‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tend-Wiktionary, English tend‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*téndetiWiktionary, Latin tendoreconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tendōWiktionary, Latin tendo‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtendōWiktionary, English tendas tendere‘to stretch’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400tendreWiktionary, English tend‘to stretch’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600tendreWiktionary, English tend
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tendenWiktionary, English tend‘to proceed or move’
- Englishearliest quotation 1811tendWiktionary, English tend. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1811, Jane Austen, London: […] C[harles] Roworth: “She had found in her everything that could tend…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with tend, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Italic *tendō ‘to stretch’
- intentional ← intentiōnālis ← intentiō ← intendō ← tendō
- hypertension ← tension ← tension ← tēnsiō ← tendō
- pretense ← pretensse ← praetēnsus ← praetendō ← tendō
- hypotension ← tension ← tension ← tēnsiō ← tendō
- inattention ← attention ← attentio ← attendō ← tendō
- pretension ← tension ← tension ← tēnsiō ← tendō
through Latin tendō ‘to stretch, stretch out, extend, spread out’
85 more relatives in the full family tree
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Another origin of tend
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tenden‘to pay attention to’
- Englishtodaytend
Another origin of tend
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*den-root named by Wiktionary
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tinnaną‘to burn’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tandijaną‘to kindle’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150tendan‘to kindle, set on fire’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tenden‘to raze or destroy with fire’
- Englishtodaytend
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Today it means
verb To make a tender of; to offer or tender.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “tend”; 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 *ten- / tend