英文词源
- tenant
- tenant: [14] A tenant is etymologically a ‘holder’. The word comes from Old French tenant, a noun use of the present participle of tenir ‘hold’. This in turn went back to Latin tenēre ‘hold’, a descendant of the Indo-European base *ten- ‘stretch, extend’ (source also of English tend, tense, thin, etc). Also from Latin tenēre come English tenacious [16], tenement [14], tenet [17], and tenor, not to mention contain, continue, detain, maintain, obtain, retain, etc, while French tenir has additionally produced tenable [16], tenon [15], tenure [15], and probably tennis.
=> contain, continue, detain, maintain, obtain, retain, tenable, tenacious, tend, tenement, tenet, tennis, tenon, tenor, tense, tenure, thin - tenant (n.)
- early 14c., "person who holds lands by title or by lease," from Anglo-French tenaunt (late 13c.), Old French tenant "possessor; feudal tenant" (12c.), noun use of present participle of tenir "to hold," from Latin tenere "hold, keep, grasp" (see tenet). Related: Tenancy. Tenant-farmer attested from 1748.
中文词源
词根词缀： -ten-握,持有 + -ant人
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：tenant 词源，tenant 含义。
ten-,持有，握住，-ant,人。引申词义租客，租户。
tenant和tennis、obtain是同根词，词根ten、tain表“抓住，拿住”。词源上，tenant的本义是“持有者”，就是暂时拿着、占着某物的人。该词词义统一于“租借”，房客租借房间，佃户向地主租借田地。同根词tenure（保有权，占有）。
ten-,持有，握住，-ant,人。引申词义租客，租户。
