tendril

The story

1. Latin · derived fromtendere“to stretch, extend”
2. Old French · derived fromtendre“soft”
3. Middle French · derived fromtendrillon“bud, shoot, cartilage”
4. English todaytendril

From Middle French tendrillon (“bud, shoot, cartilage”), perhaps a diminutive of tendron (“cartilage”), from Old French tendre (“soft”) (see tender (adjective)), or else from Latin tendere (“to stretch, extend”) (see tender (verb)).

Words from the same roots