Etymology

tenant

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Today it means: One who holds a lease (a tenancy). Full definition →

Middle English tenaunt ← Anglo-Norman tenaunt ← Old French tenant
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tenant · noun, verb1

  1. Latin · derived fromtenēre“hold, keep”
  2. Old French · derived fromtenant
  3. Anglo-Norman · derived fromtenaunt
  4. Middle English · inherited fromtenaunt
  5. English todaytenant

From Middle English tenaunt, from Anglo-Norman tenaunt and Old French tenant, present participle of tenir (“to hold”), from Latin tenēre (“hold, keep”).

tenant · noun2

Possibly just a modification of tenet, but note obsolete tenent (“tenet”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.