tender

Tender, soft, comes from Latin tener; tender, to offer, from Latin tendere, to stretch; and tender, one who tends, is formed on the English verb tend.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈten.də/, US /ˈten.dɚ/^[4]

tender¹ soft, gentle

Etymology

It is Middle English tendre, borrowed from Old French tendre (“soft, delicate, young”), earlier tenre,^[2][1][3] from Latin tener (“soft, delicate, of tender age”),^[1][2] probably cognate with Greek térēn, delicate, and Sanskrit táruṇa, young,^[2][1][5] perhaps from PIE Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”), through stretched, thin, weak or young.^[1] The d is unetymological.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Soft, delicate, young and vulnerable: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

Kind, affectionate, loving, and easily pained, are from the late 13th century,^[1] and expressing sensitive feelings from about 1300.^[1] Of food, soft and easy to chew, it is from the mid-13th century,^[1] and of plants, not hardy, from the late 14th century.^[1] Susceptible to moral influence is 16th-century.^[3] Word Origins traces tender loving care to Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3, and its abbreviation TLC to the 1940s.^[6] Tender-hearted is from 1539 and tenderfoot, a newcomer to pioneer life, American English from 1849.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1200 – soft, young.^[2]
• mid-13th century – of food.^[1]
• late 13th century – affectionate.^[1]
• 1539 – tender-hearted.^[2]
• 1849 – tenderfoot.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Easily cut or chewed; not tough: a tender steak.
2. Painful when touched; sore.
3. Young and vulnerable: at a tender age.
4. Gentle, kind and affectionate.
5. Of plants, easily damaged by cold.

Verb

1. To make tender.

Word family

• tenderly
• tenderness
• tenderize
• tender-hearted
• tenderfoot

tender² offer

Etymology

It is Middle English tendren, borrowed from Old French tendre (“to offer, hold forth”),^[1][2][3] from Latin tendere (“to stretch, extend”) (see tend),^[1][2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[1] The keeping of the French infinitive ending is unusual, compare render.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To offer formally, as a plea, oath or evidence, and especially money in payment: about 1400 in Etymonline,^[1] 1542–43 in Barnhart.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a formal offer, is also from 1542–43.^[2] A written offer to supply goods or services at a stated price, a bid, is a commercial sense,^[7] and money offered in payment, as in legal tender, a further one.^[7] A tender offer to buy a company's shares is American English from 1964.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – to offer formally.^[1]
• 1542–43 – the noun.^[2]
• 1964 – tender offer.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To offer formally: to tender one's resignation.

Noun

1. A formal offer, especially a written bid to supply goods or services at a stated price.
2. Money offered in payment: legal tender.

Word family

• legal tender

tender³ attendant, vessel

Etymology

It is probably an agent noun formed from Middle English tenden, to attend to (see tend), and -er.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who tends another, an attendant or nurse: about 1470.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

A vessel attending warships to supply provisions is from 1675 (the 1670s),^[2][8][1] and a railway car carrying fuel and water for a steam locomotive from 1825.^[2][8] One who looks after a machine or business, as in bartender (1836), is from 1825.^[1][8]

Timeline

• c. 1470 – an attendant.^[2]
• 1675 – a supply vessel.^[2]
• 1825 – a locomotive tender.^[2]
• 1836 – bartender.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who looks after something: a bartender.
2. A boat that ferries supplies or passengers between a ship and the shore.
3. A railway car behind a locomotive carrying fuel and water.

Word family

• bartender

Related words

• tend
• tense
• tension
• extend
• tenuous

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press