tenuis

T1E1N1U1I1S1
UK/ˈtɛnjuːɪs/UK/ˈtɛnuːɪs/US/ˈtɛnjuɪs/US/ˈtɛnuɪs/

adjective

Of Greek consonants, neither aspirated nor voiced, as [p], [t],

UncommonScrabble 6

Meanings

adjectivetenuis (not comparable)
  1. not comparablehuman sciencesOf Greek consonants, neither aspirated nor voiced, as [p], [t],
  2. not comparablehuman sciencesOf obstruents in other languages, not voiced, aspirated, glottalized, or otherwise different in phonation from the prototypical values of the voiceless IPA letters ([p], [t], [k], [f], [θ], [s], [ʃ], etc.).

    The superscript equal sign ˭ is here used to denote the Czech tenuis consonant, in this case the plosive [t˭], which lacks aspiration, in order to contrast it with its aspirated counterpart in English [tʰ].

    2016, Malá & Šaffková, editor, ELT Revisited, page 11
nountenuis (plural tenues)

plural tenues

  1. human sciencesA tenuis consonant.

    The tenuis becomes aspirate in Low-German.

    1887, Max Müller, (Please provide the book title or journal name)
    1 more example

    Since the explosive was a tenuis before a consonant we have -p m- and -t n-; these combinations were mutated to mh and nh in the following examples, the voicelessness of the tenuis being retained after its assimilation

    1913, John Morris-Jones, A Welsh grammar, page 184

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

  1. Latintenuis“thin, fine; weak”
  2. Englishtenuis

Unadapted borrowing from Latin tenuis (“thin, fine; weak”). Doublet of thin.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

tenuous (when unstressed /ɪ/ = [ə])tenuous (when unstressed /ɪ/ = [ə])

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

tenuis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenuis

MLA

“tenuis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenuis. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tenuis,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tenuis.

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