Etymology

tenacious

tena·cious
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Today it means: Clinging to an object or surface; adhesive. Full definition →

Latin tenāx
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromtenāx“holding fast, clinging”
  2. English todaytenacious

From Latin tenāx (“holding fast, clinging”), from tenēre (“to hold”), + -ious.

Words from the same roots

Latintenāx all →

tenace

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.