Tennessee

T1E1N1N1E1S1S1E1E1
US, UK/ˌtɛnəˈsiː/US, pin pen merger/ˌtɪnəˈsiː/Australia, New Zealand/ˌtenəˈsiː/

proper noun

A state of the United States.

Very commonScrabble 9

Meanings

proper noun
  1. A state of the United States.

    Fa la la la Fa la la lee Now let me go, my honey oh back to Tennessee It's beefsteak when I'm workin, whiskey when I'm dry, and sweet heaven when I die

    2011, Gillian Welch, “Tennessee”, in The Harrow & the Harvest, performed by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
    1 more example

    The relationship between a hairstylist and a client can be far more than simply somebody to cut and shape hair, which is why Tennessee is the latest state to require cosmetologists to complete training on how to recognize and respond to signs of domestic abuse.

    2022 January 5, Kaanita Iyer, “Tennessee is the latest state to require hairstylists to complete domestic violence training”, in CNN
  2. A river in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky, United States, that flows from eastern Tennessee into the Ohio River.
  3. A male given name.
  4. A female given name.
nounTennessee (plural Tennessees)

plural Tennessees

  1. The Tennessee warbler, Oreothlypis peregrina.

    The Nashville's cousin, the Tennessee warbler, is just as badly named: neither can be found in Tennessee, except during migration. Tennessees vary a lot in fall; some are almost pure white below, mimicking spring plumage, while immatures like the one pictured on page 304 can be quite yellow below.

    2005, Bill Thompson III et al., Identify Yourself: The 50 Most Common Birding Identification Challenges, Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 303

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

  1. CherokeeᏔᎾᏏ
  2. EnglishTennessee

From Cherokee ᏔᎾᏏ (tanasi), believed to mean “winding river”.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic تِينِيسِي
  • تِينِيسِي (tinisī)state
Bengali টেনেসী
  • টেনেসী (ṭeneśi)state
Bulgarian Тенеси́
  • Тенеси́ (Tenesí)state
Chinese Cantonese 田納西 /田纳西
  • 田納西 /田纳西 (tin⁴ naap⁶ sai¹)state
Chinese Mandarin 田納西 /田纳西
  • 田納西 /田纳西 (Tiánnàxī)state
Czech Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
Danish Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
Esperanto Tenesio
  • Tenesiostate
Finnish Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
French Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
German Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
Greek Τεννεσσή, Τενεσί
  • Τεννεσσή (Tennessí)state
  • Τενεσί (Tenesí)state
Hawaiian Kenekī
  • Kenekīstate
Hebrew טנסי
  • טנסיstate
Hindi टेनेसी
  • टेनेसी (ṭenesī)state
Italian Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
Japanese テネシー
  • テネシー (Teneshī)state
Korean 테네시
  • 테네시 (Tenesi)state
Latin Tennessia, Tennesia
  • Tennessiastate
  • Tennesiastate
Latvian Tenesī
  • Tenesīstate
Lithuanian Tenesis
  • Tenesisstate
Polish Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
Portuguese Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
Punjabi ਟੈਨੇਸੀ
  • ਟੈਨੇਸੀ (ṭainesī)state
Romanian Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
Russian Теннесси́
  • Теннесси́ (Tennessí)state
Slovak Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
Spanish Tennessee, Tenesí
  • Tennesseestate
  • Tenesístate
Tamil டென்னிசி, டென்னசி
  • டென்னிசி (ṭeṉṉici)state
  • டென்னசி (ṭeṉṉaci)state
Thai เทนเนสซี
  • เทนเนสซี (ten-nét-sii)state
Turkish Tennessee
  • Tennesseestate
Ukrainian Теннессі́
  • Теннессі́ (Tennessí)state
Yiddish טענעסי
  • טענעסי (tenesi)state

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with Tennessee

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

Tennessee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tennessee

MLA

“Tennessee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tennessee. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Tennessee,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Tennessee.

Source: Tennessee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.