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tendre

Etymology and origin of the French word tendre

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inherited borrowed derived
Latin tendo
French tendre
Latin attendo
English attend
French attendre
Latin attentio
English attention
French attention
Latin obtendo
Latin obtentus

tendre1 stretch

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
late 10th century, Passion de Clermont
Inherited from
Latin tendo
Ultimate origin
Latin (tendō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tɑ̃dʁ/[1]

Forms

tendre[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Latin tendō (“to stretch, spread; to set (traps); to make for; to aim at; to pitch a tent”).[2][3][4][5][6]

Cognate with Italian tendere, Old Occitan tendre and Spanish tender.[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Passion de Clermont (late 10th century) uses it for holding something out to someone and for stretching out a part of the body.[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) one bends a bow and pitches a tent with it (tendre un tref); a sail is tendue in Chrétien de Troyes (1176), tapestries in 1258, and traps about 1175.[2] Tendre l'oreille “to prick up one's ears” is found about 1225, and Villon (1462) uses tendre ses filets figuratively.[2]

With à it has meant “to aspire to” (1174–1176), “to tend towards” (1176) and “to make for” (about 1225); D'Alembert (1759) gave it its mathematical sense, “to approach a limit”, as in tendre vers zéro (1901).[2] The participle tendu “strained” is used of a situation in George Sand (1849) and of an atmosphere in Sartre (1948).[2] Derivatives include tendance (13th century) and tente, from the feminine of the past participle.[4]

Timeline

  • late 10th century – “To hold out”, in the Passion de Clermont.[2]
  • c. 1100 – Tendre un arc, tendre un tref in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • 1174–1176 – Tendre à “to aspire to”.[2]
  • c. 1225 – Tendre l'oreille.[2]
  • 1759 – “To approach a limit”, in D'Alembert.[2]
  • 1849 – Situation tendue in George Sand.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To stretch, tighten: tendre une corde, tendre un arc.[9][10]
  2. To spread, set: tendre un filet, tendre un piège.[9]
  3. To hang (a wall) with fabric: tendre un mur de tissu.[9]
  4. To hold out, stretch out: tendre la main, tendre les bras, tendre l'oreille.[2][1]
  5. Tendre à, tendre vers: to tend to, aim at.[1][2]
  6. (mathematics) Tendre vers: to approach (a limit).[2]
  7. Se tendre: to become taut, (of relations) to become strained.[1][2]

Word family

  • tendu
  • tendance
  • tendeur
  • tente
  • tenture
  • tenderie
  • détendre
  • retendre

tendre2 tender

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis
Inherited from
Latin tener
Ultimate origin
Latin (tener)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tɑ̃dʁ/[1]

Forms

tendre (plural tendres)[1] Old French also tenre.[3]

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Latin tener (“soft, delicate; young”), through its accusative “tenerum”, with the same physical and moral senses as in French.[3][4][5][11] Rey notes that no other Indo-European language has a matching form, and that the word is usually connected with the family of teneō (“to hold”), tenuis (“thin”) and tendō (“to stretch”), Wiktionary takes it to Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).[3][1]

Cognate with Romanian tânăr (“young”), Italian tenero, Occitan tenre, Catalan tendre, Spanish tierno and Portuguese tenro.[12][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis; the Chanson de Roland has it of a heart easily moved: Karles respunt : trop avez tendre coer (“Charles answers: your heart is too tender”).[5][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense, “young, fresh”, survives only in âge tendre (1579).[3] As the opposite of dur it meant “easily cut” (about 1200), especially of food (pain tendre, 1636), and of people “delicate” (about 1155) and later “sensitive to pain”.[3] In the 14th century it came to mean “responsive to affection”, whence n'être pas tendre “to be hard” (about 1750).[3]

Classical French used le tendre for love (1649), made famous by the Carte du Tendre in Mademoiselle de Scudéry's Clélie (1656), and the précieux said avoir un tendre pour quelqu'un (1659).[3][4] Since the 18th century it has described soft light and colours (1745), and wine-tasters have used it of light, supple wines since 1770.[3][13]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – In the Vie de saint Alexis.[5][3]
  • c. 1155 – Of a delicate person.[3]
  • 14th century – “Affectionate”.[3]
  • 1579 – Âge tendre.[3]
  • 1656 – The Carte du Tendre.[4][3]
  • 1745 – Of colours.[3]
  • 1770 – Of wine.[13]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. tender, soft, easily cut: viande tendre, pierre tendre, bois tendre.[9][14]
  2. (literary) Young, fresh: l'herbe tendre, l'âge tendre, sa tendre enfance.[14][9]
  3. (of a colour) Soft, pale: rose tendre.[14]
  4. Affectionate, loving: une mère tendre, des mots tendres.[14][9]
  5. Ne pas être tendre avec: to be hard on.[3]
  6. (of wine) Light and supple.[13]

Noun

  1. A soft-hearted person: c'est un tendre.[3]
  2. (archaic) Love: la carte du Tendre.[3][4]

Word family

  • tendresse
  • tendrement
  • tendreté
  • attendrir
  • tendron

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 196a
  7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 205b
  12. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  13. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  14. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Tendre.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/tendre. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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