English
tentiginous
Tentiginous comes from Latin tentigo ‘a tension, lecherousness’, from tendō ‘to stretch’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *téndeti.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*téndeti1reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tendō1‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtendō2as tendere‘to stretch’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtentigo2‘a tension, lecherousness’
- Englishearliest quotation 1616tentiginous2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin tendo
- 2 Wiktionary, English tentiginous
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1616, Ben Jonson: “Were you tentiginous? Ha? And again. Would you be…”.
Lineage
- 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 tentiginousas tendere‘to stretch’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtentigoWiktionary, English tentiginous‘a tension, lecherousness’
- Englishearliest quotation 1616tentiginousWiktionary, English tentiginous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1616, Ben Jonson: “Were you tentiginous? Ha? And again. Would you be…”
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *tendō ‘to stretch’
pretend, extend, attendance, tender, intend, hypertension, contend, intentional, pretense, hypotension, pretension, entendre, portend, inattention, 26 more
through Latin tendō ‘to stretch’
attention, extensive, tend, extension, extent, tension, intention, tense, contention, tempt, tensor, tensile, extensible, entente, portent, detent, 42 more
Today it means
adj stiff; stretched; strained
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “tentiginous”; 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 / tentiginous