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ten·der | \ ˈten-dər 
\ 1 : marked by, responding to, or expressing the softer emotions : fond, loving a tender lover b : highly susceptible to impressions or emotions : impressionable a tender conscience b : having a soft or yielding texture : easily broken, cut, or damaged : delicate, fragile tender feet 4a : sensitive to touch or palpation
the bruise was still tender
b : sensitive to injury or insult : touchy tender pride c : demanding careful and sensitive handling : ticklish a tender situation d of a boat : easily tipped by an external force
5a : physically weak : not able to endure hardship
c : incapable of resisting cold : not hardy
tender perennials
6a : appropriate or conducive to a delicate or sensitive constitution or character : gentle, mild tender breeding tender irony b : delicate or soft in quality or tone
never before heard the piano sound so tender— Elva S. Daniels
tendered; tendering\ ˈten-d(ə-)riŋ \ 1 : an unconditional offer of money or service in satisfaction of a debt or obligation made to save a penalty or forfeiture for nonpayment or nonperformance
2 : an offer or proposal made for acceptance: such as
a : an offer of a bid for a contract
3 : something that may be offered in payment specifically : money : an often breaded strip of usually breast meat
chicken tenders also : the tenderloin of a chicken tend·er | \ ˈten-dər \ : one that tends: such as a(1) : a ship employed to attend other ships (as to supply provisions)
(2) : a boat for communication or transportation between shore and a larger ship
(3) : a warship that provides logistic support
b : a car attached to a steam locomotive for carrying a supply of fuel and water
tendered; tendering\ ˈten-d(ə-)riŋ \ History and Etymology for tender
Adjective
Middle English tendre, tender, borrowed from Anglo-French tendre, going back to Latin tener "soft, delicate (of persons or parts of the body), immature, yielding easily, sensitive," probably by metathesis from *terenos or *terunos, going back to Indo-European, whence also Greek térēn "soft, tender," Sanskrit taruṇa- "young, tender, fresh," Avestan tauruna- "young," (as noun) "boy"
Note:
Macrobius (early 5th century), in his Saturnalia, quotes Favorinus (ca. 80-160 A.D.) as claiming that terenus meant mollis ("soft") in Sabine; this form would support the hypothesis of metathesis in Latin tener. Ernout and Meillet (Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine, 4th edition, Paris, 1979) reject this etymology without comment, citing instead a possible connection with the ten- of tenēre, tendere, tenuis (see tenant entry 1, tender entry 3, thin entry 1).
Verb (1)
Middle English tendren, probably in part derivative of tendur tender entry 3, in part borrowed from its source, Anglo-French tendre
Note:
The apparent use of the Anglo-French nominalized infinitive as an inflected verb in Middle English is paralleled by render entry 2. Cf. tend entry 1, a more regular borrowing of the stem of the same verb, in a different sense.
Noun (1)
Middle English tendur "grant of a license," borrowed from Anglo-French tendre "offer, offer in satisfaction of a debt," noun derivative from infinitive of tendre "to stretch, hold out, offer (a suit, plea, money), grant," going back to Latin tendere "to extend outward, stretch, spread out, direct (one's course), aim (at a purpose)," going back to Indo-European *ten- "stretch, extend" + *-d- (or *-dh-), suffixal extension of uncertain origin — more at tenant entry 1
Note:
See note at tenant entry 1. The original past participle of tendere is tentus, which would appear to continue an Indo-European verbal adjective *tn̥-tos, whence also Greek tatós, derived directly from the base *ten- rather than from *tend-. The form tentus was largely replaced by tensus, presumably from *tend-tos, a regular derivative of the new formation tend-.
Noun (2)
probably short for tenderloin
Noun (3)
tend entry 2 + -er entry 2
Verb (2)
Middle English tendren "to become tender, care for, be concerned about," derivative of tender, tendre tender entry 1
Noun (4)
probably noun derivative of tender entry 1 or of tender entry 6 in sense "to be solicitous of"
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Time Traveler for tender
The first known use of tender was in the 13th century
See more words from the same century