tenant
pronunciation
How to pronounce tenant in British English:
UK [ˈtenənt]
How to pronounce tenant in American English:
US [ˈtenənt]
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- Noun:
- someone who pays rent to use land or a building or a car that is owned by someone else
- a holder of buildings or lands by any kind of title (as ownership or lease)
- any occupant who dwells in a place
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- Verb:
- occupy as a tenant
Word Origin
- 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.
Synonym
Antonym
Example
- 1. My tenant for several years was a sushi chef from japan .
- 2. That means a tenant 's rent covers the interest bill and the owner pockets any capital appreciation .
- 3. We went to the estate agent who had originally let the house to our tenant and got his references .
- 4. We discovered from the police and other agencies that our tenant was part of a group that had stolen three other houses .
- 5. Besides mourning his father , erik is also nursing an insidious crush on his tenant , a lovely jamaican woman who lives in the flat below with her young daughter .