Etymology

extenuate

ex·ten·u·ate
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Today it means: Of a person: emaciated, wasted, weakened; of the body or part of it: atrophied, shrunken, withered. Full definition →

Middle English extenuat ← Latin extenuātus ← Proto-Indo-European *tenh₂-
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extenuate · adjective1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*tenh₂-“to extend, stretch; thin”
  2. Latin · derived fromextenuātus“diminished, reduced, thinned”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromextenuat“(medicine) made thin, emaciated”
  4. English todayextenuate

From Middle English extenuat (“(medicine) made thin, emaciated”), from Latin extenuātus (“diminished, reduced, thinned”), perfect passive participle of extenuō (“to diminish, reduce, thin”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex- (“out-, thoroughly”) + tenuō (“to enfeeble, weaken, wear down; to lessen, reduce; to make thin”), from tenuis (“fine, slender, thin; feeble, weak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tenh₂- (“to extend, stretch; thin”)) + -ō (first conjugation-verb forming suffix). Compare attenuate.

extenuate · verb2

  1. Latin · derived fromextenuātus“diminished, reduced, thinned”
  2. English todayextenuate

From Latin extenuātus (“diminished, reduced, thinned”) (more at etymology 1), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.