tend

English has two verbs spelled tend: to incline or move toward, from Old French tendre and Latin tendere “to stretch”, and to look after, shortened from attend.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tend/^[4]

tend¹ incline

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tenden,^[2][1] borrowed from Old French tendre (“to stretch, hold forth, offer”),^[2][1] from Latin tendere (“to stretch, extend; aim, direct oneself”),^[2][1][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[1][6] Latin tendere is cognate with Greek teinein “to stretch” and Sanskrit tanoti “stretches”,^[1] and the same root gave Latin tenere “to hold”.^[2] It is related to tense, tension and thin.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To turn the mind to, be intent upon: early 14th century in Etymonline;^[2] to move toward, incline: about 1330 in Barnhart,^[1] about 1350 in the OED, of persons or things in motion.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense of moving in a direction is now archaic,^[7] and the main sense became a disposition or inclination toward a condition or action,^[8][3] as in tend to agree.^[8] It is also used of a road or course leading in a direction, from 1574.^[7]

Timeline

• early 14th century – to turn the mind to.^[2]
• c. 1330 – to move toward, incline.^[1]
• 1574 – of a road or course.^[7]
• 1641 – to have a natural inclination to move.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To be inclined or likely to do something; to have a tendency.
2. To move or extend in a certain direction.

Word family

• tendency

tend² look after

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English tenden,^[1][5] a shortening of atenden, attenden, attend.^[1][2][3][9] Middle English tenden was also used as a shortening of intenden, intend.^[2][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in the Ancrene Riwle;^[1] “to minister to, wait upon” from about 1300 in Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its early senses were those of attend and intend: to listen, to attend to, to turn one's attention.^[7][3] The general modern sense, to take care of or look after, is from the 15th century:^[3] a person from about 1489, and a flock or business from 1515.^[7] To foster or cultivate a plant is from 1631.^[7] In dialect it is still used for “to attend, wait on” and “to watch, guard”.^[10]

Timeline

• a. 1200 – first recorded.^[1]
• c. 1300 – to wait upon.^[2]
• c. 1489 – to care for a person.^[7]
• 1515 – to take charge of a flock or business.^[7]
• 1631 – to cultivate a plant.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To look after or take care of: tend the sick, tend a garden.
2. To manage or serve at: tend bar.
3. tend to: to apply one's attention to.

Word family

• tender

Related words

• tense
• tension
• tent
• intend
• attend

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Watkins, Calvert (2000), "Indo-European Roots", appendix to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ 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)