Meanings
tennis1
nountennis (usually uncountable, plural tennises)
plural tennises
- uncountableusuallyhobbiesA sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets.
One of Naomi Osaka's sponsors has been forced to apologise after depicting the Japanese tennis star, who is half-Haitian, with pale skin in an advertisement.
2019 January 23, Justin McCurry, “Naomi Osaka sponsor apologises for ‘whitewashing’ tennis star in ad”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Dec 20241 more example
“Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke[…]whom the papers are making such a fuss about.”
1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court - dateduncountableusuallyA match in this sport.
We go about to parties in the daytime as usual, teas and tennises[…]
1918, Violet Hunt, The Last Ditch, page 95 - obsoleteuncountableusuallyAn earlier game in which a ball is driven to and fro, or kept in motion by striking it with a racquet or with the open hand.
tennis-balls
1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)1 more example
His easy bow, his good stories, his style of dancing and playing tennis, […] were familiar to all London.
1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC
verbtennis (third-person singular simple present tennises, present participle tennising, simple past and past participle tennised)
present singular third person tennises · participle present tennising · participle past tennised · past tennised
- datedintransitiveTo play tennis.
- transitiveTo drive backward and forward like a tennis ball.
they shall have Intelligence or Espial upon the Enemy, will so drive him from one side to another, and tennis him amongst them
1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC
Tennis2
proper noun
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna game played with rackets by two or four players who hit a ball back and forth over a net that divides the court
Similar
Broader
court game
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ten-
- Proto-Indo-European*tn̥eh₁yéti
- Proto-Italic*tenēō
- Latinteneō
- Early Medieval Latintenīre
- Old Frenchtenir, ~nez
- Middle Englishtennys /teneys /tenis
- Englishtennis
From Middle English tennys, teneys, tenis, from Old French tenez (second-person plural imperative of tenir (“to hold”)).
More words from Middle English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Arabic تَنِس, تِنِس
- تَنِس (tanis)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- تِنِس (tinis)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- كُرَةُ المَضْرِب (kuratu l-maḍrib)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Bengali টেনিস
- টেনিস (ṭeniś)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Bulgarian те́нис
- те́нис (ténis)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Catalan tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Chinese Cantonese 網球 /网球
- 網球 /网球 (mong⁵ kau⁴)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Chinese Mandarin 網球 /网球
- 網球 /网球 (wǎngqiú)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Czech tenis
- tenissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Danish tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Dutch tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Esperanto teniso
- tenisosport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Estonian tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Finnish tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
French tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
German Tennis
- Tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Greek αντισφαίριση, τένις
- αντισφαίριση (antisfaírisi)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- τένις (ténis)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Hebrew טֶנִיס
- טֶנִיס (ténis)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Hindi टेनिस
- टेनिस (ṭenis)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Hungarian tenisz
- teniszsport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Icelandic tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Indonesian tenis
- tenissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Irish leadóg
- leadógsport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Italian tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Japanese テニス, 庭球
- テニス (tenisu)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- 庭球 (teikyū)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Korean 테니스, 정구
- 테니스 (teniseu)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- 정구 (jeonggu)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Latin tenisia
- tenisiasport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Latvian teniss
- tenisssport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Lithuanian tenisas
- tenisassport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Malay tenis
- tenissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Norwegian Bokmål tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Polish tenis ziemny, tenis
- tenis ziemnysport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- tenissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- biały sportsport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Portuguese tênis, ténis
- tênissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- ténissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Punjabi ਖਿੱਦੋ-ਛਿੱਕਾ, ਗੇਂਦ-ਛਿੱਕਾ
- ਖਿੱਦੋ-ਛਿੱਕਾ (khiddo-chikkā)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- ਗੇਂਦ-ਛਿੱਕਾ (genda-chikkā)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Romanian tenis
- tenissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Russian те́ннис
- те́ннис (tɛ́nnis)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Scottish Gaelic teanas
- teanassport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Slovak tenis
- tenissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Spanish tenis
- tenissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Swahili tenisi
- tenisisport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Swedish tennis
- tennissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Tagalog tenis
- tenissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Tamil வரிப்பந்தாட்டம், வலைப்பந்து
- வரிப்பந்தாட்டம் (varippantāṭṭam)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- வலைப்பந்து (valaippantu)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Thai เทนนิส
- เทนนิส (ten-nít)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Turkish tenis
- tenissport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Ukrainian те́ніс
- те́ніс (ténis)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Urdu ٹینِس
- ٹینِس (ṭenis)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Vietnamese quần vợt, ten-nít
- quần vợtsport played by two or four players with strung racquets
- ten-nítsport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Yiddish טעניס
- טעניס (tenis)sport played by two or four players with strung racquets
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with tennis
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
tennis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tennis
MLA
“tennis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tennis. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tennis,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tennis.
Source: tennis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.