tempt

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tempten, also tenten,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French tempter,^[4][5][6][7] and directly borrowed from Latin temptō (“to handle, touch, feel, test, try”).^[6][5][8] The OED explains tempter, used from the 12th to the 14th centuries, as a learned form beside the popular tenter;^[4] the English verb has always kept the Latin spelling with p.^[4][6] The Anglo-Norman verb, recorded from the early 12th century, already meant to put to the test, to tempt God, to allure to sin, and to probe a wound.^[9] The Latin verb also gave Catalan tentar, Spanish tentar, Portuguese tentar and Italian tentare.^[4] It also had the form tentō; the OED says that inscriptions and early manuscripts never have the spelling with n, which spread among scribes about the 13th century, helped by a supposed derivation from tendō (“to stretch”), which is now rejected in favour of a separate root.^[4] Barnhart takes it as a frequentative of an unattested *tempō, from Proto-Indo-European *temp- (“to stretch, extend”),^[6] and Etymonline reports de Vaan's reconstruction Proto-Indo-European *tempto-, from a root meaning "to touch, feel", for which the root "to stretch" is a good candidate.^[5] Merriam-Webster relates the Latin verb to tempus (“time”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To try to draw a person into evil or sin: about 1230, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[4][6] or about 1200 in Etymonline, of the devil and the flesh.^[5] The OED notes that this sense, a late development in Latin and common in the Vulgate and in Christian use, is the earliest one in English.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The older Latin sense "to test, try" came into English after the religious one: to tempt God, to test His patience presumptuously, appears before 1340 in Richard Rolle,^[4] and the plain sense "to put to the test" in the Wycliffite Bible of 1382, which says that God temptide Abraham;^[4][11] that sense was obsolete by 1700.^[4][10] Tempt also meant "to attempt, try" from the 1380s to the 16th century, partly as a shortened form of attempt.^[4][12] To tempt fate or fortune is recorded from 1603,^[4] and to tempt Providence from the early 18th century.^[13] Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) uses tempt for venturing into a peril, a chiefly poetic use.^[4][14] In the Middle Ages the noun temptation was used especially of the Devil tempting Jesus in the wilderness.^[13] Johnson (1755) gave as the first sense "to solicit to ill".^[15] In Yorkshire, southern England and the Isle of Wight dialects the verb still meant "to attempt, try" around 1900.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1230 – to entice someone to evil or sin.^[4][6]
• before 1340 – to tempt God, to test His power or patience presumptuously.^[4]
• 1382 – to put to the test or proof (now obsolete).^[4][10]
• c. 1384 – to try, attempt to do something (obsolete by 1538).^[4][12]
• 1597 – noun tempt, an attempt (obsolete by 1670).^[4]
• 1603 – to tempt fate, to tempt fortune.^[4]
• 1667 – to venture upon a danger, such as the sea, in Milton.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To try to persuade someone to do something wrong or unwise by the promise of pleasure or gain; to entice: The offer of easy money tempted him to cheat.^[16][10][12]
2. To attract or allure; to appeal to: Can I tempt you with a slice of cake?^[16][12]
3. To make someone inclined to do something: The rain tempted us to stay at home.^[16][12]
4. tempt fate, tempt fortune or tempt Providence: to risk provoking misfortune by acting rashly.^[16][10][4]
5. To test God presumptuously; to provoke or defy.^[10][4]
6. (obsolete, 1382–1700) To put to the test or proof.^[4][10][12]
7. (obsolete) To attempt, try.^[4][12]

Word family

• temptable
• tempter
• temptation
• temptress

Related words

• tentative
• tentacle
• taunt

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins