Etymology

tetris

T1E1T1R1I1S1

Today it means: The act of clearing four lines at once (the maximum possible) in Tetris. Full definition →

Russian Те́трис (Tɛ́tris) ← English tennis ← Middle English tennys /teneys /tenis
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tetris · verb1

From Tetris.

Tetris · proper noun, noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kʷetwóres
  2. Proto-Hellenic*kʷétwores
  3. Ancient Greekτέσσᾰρες (téssăres)
  4. Ancient Greekτετρα- (tetra-)
  5. Russianтетра- (tetra-)
  6. Proto-Indo-European*ten-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*tn̥eh₁yéti
  8. Proto-Italic*tenēō
  9. Latinteneō
  10. Early Medieval Latintenīre
  11. Old Frenchtenir, ~nez
  12. Middle Englishtennys /teneys /tenis
  13. Englishtennis
  14. Russianте́ннис (ténnis)
  15. RussianТе́трис (Tɛ́tris)
  16. English todayTetris

From Russian Те́трис (Tɛ́tris), coined by the creator of the game, Alexey Pajitnov, from the Russian numerical prefix тетра- (tetra-, “tetra-”, as all of the game's pieces contain four segments) and те́ннис (ténnis, “tennis”), his favourite sport.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.