Meanings
tenon1
plural tenons
- A projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it, and made to insert into a mortise, and in this way secure together the parts of a frame.
If there is much gauging for the same size mortise and tenon to be done, and if a mortise gauge is not handy, a simple improvised gauge for the purpose can easily be made with two pieces of wood and four or five steel sprigs…
2016 September 6, A Little Book of Woodworking Joints - Including Dovetailing, Mortise-and-Tenon and Mitred Joints, 2nd edition (paperback), Read Books Limited, →ISBN2 more examples
A keyed mortise-and-tenon joint is constructed the same as a doweled mortise and tenon joint except that the tenon projects far enough through the mortise to admit the insertion of a tapering key which draws the mortised piece firmly against the shoulder of the tenon.
1918, Herman Frederick Rusch, Shop Work, Joinery-cabinet-making-carpentry, Chicago, Illinois, United States: University of Chicago Press, page 56One soon learned, however, that it was no easy thing to make wood do exactly as one required it. It looked quite easy in the masterly hands of the experienced pattern-maker, but the mysteries of dowelling and mortice and tenon were not uncovered in a week or two.
1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 341
present singular third person tenons · participle present tenoning · participle past tenoned · past tenoned
- transitiveTo make into a tenon.
First we'll tenon this part, then we'll make a mortise that will fit it on that part.
- transitiveTo fit with tenons.
Tenon2
- A surname from French.
Origin
- Old Frenchtenon
- Anglo-Normantenoun
- Middle Englishtenoun
- Englishtenon
From Middle English tenoun, tenown, tenon, from Anglo-Norman tenoun, from Old French tenon.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian шип, цапфа
- шип (šip)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
- цапфа (capfa)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Chinese Mandarin 榫頭 /榫头, 凸榫
- 榫頭 /榫头 (sǔntou)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
- 凸榫 (tūsǔn)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
- 接榫 (jiēsǔn)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Czech čep
- čepprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Finnish tappi, vaarna
- tappiprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
- vaarnaprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
French tenon
- tenonprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
German Zapfen
- Zapfenprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Greek μόρσο
- μόρσο (mórso)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Hebrew סִין, שֵׁן
- סִין (sin)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
- שֵׁן (shen)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Japanese ほぞ
- ほぞ (hozo)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Māori arero
- areroprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Polish czop
- czopprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Russian ца́пфа, шип
- ца́пфа (cápfa)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
- шип (šip)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
- вту́лка (vtúlka)projecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Swedish tapp, spont
- tappprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
- spontprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Turkish zıvana
- zıvanaprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Welsh tyno
- tynoprojecting member left by cutting away the wood around it
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with tenon
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
tenon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenon
“tenon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenon. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tenon,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenon.
Source: tenon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.