tenacious

English

WOTD – 6 November 2015

Etymology

From Latin tenāx (“holding fast, clinging”), from tenēre (“to hold”), +‎ -ious.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /təˈneɪʃəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃəs
• Hyphenation: tena‧cious

Adjective

tenacious (comparative more tenacious, superlative most tenacious)

1. Clinging to an object or surface; adhesive.
2. Unwilling to yield or give up; dogged.
3. Holding together; cohesive.
   • 1873, Henry Morton Stanley, My Kalulu, Prince, King, and Slave:

     The quagmiry road, trodden into tenacious paste by the long file of human beings ahead […]

4. Having a good memory; retentive.

Synonyms

• (clinging to an object or surface): clingsome, sticky; see also Thesaurus:adhesive
• (unwilling to yield or give up): pigheaded, steadfast; see also Thesaurus:obstinate
• (holding together): coherent; see also Thesaurus:cohesive
• (having a good memory): elephantlike, memorious; see also Thesaurus:memorious

Related terms

• tenaciously
• tenaciousness
• tenacity

Translations

clinging to an object or surface; adhesive

• Armenian: կպչուն (hy) (kpčʻun), կառչուն (hy) (kaṙčʻun), բռնունակ (bṙnunak)
• Azerbaijani: yapışan, yapışqan (az), özlü
• Bulgarian: лепкав (bg) (lepkav)
• Esperanto: tenaca
• Finnish: tarttuva (fi), tarrautuva
• German: fest haftend, festklebend (de), klebrig (de)
• Icelandic: fastheldinn
• Irish: greamúsach
• Latin: tenax
• Macedonian: ле́плив (lépliv)
• Ottoman Turkish: یاپشقان (yapışkan)
• Polish: lepki (pl)
• Portuguese: aderente (pt), tenaz (pt)
• Russian: вя́зкий (ru) (vjázkij), ли́пкий (ru) (lípkij), кле́йкий (ru) (kléjkij)
• Spanish: aferrado (es)
• Swedish: fasthållande, fasthängande, klibbig (sv), seg (sv), fast (sv)
• Turkish: yapışkan (tr), sıkıca tutan
• Ukrainian: чіпкий (čipkyj), липкий (lypkyj)

unwilling to yield from a point of view etc; dogged

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: հաստատակամ (hy) (hastatakam), համառ (hy) (hamaṙ)
• Azerbaijani: tərs (az), inadkar (az), kəc
• Bulgarian: упорит (bg) (uporit)
• Catalan: tenaç (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 頑強／顽强 (zh) (wánqiáng)

• Czech: neústupný (cs), houževnatý, vytrvalý (cs)
• Dutch: hardnekkig (nl)
• Esperanto: tenaca
• Finnish: sitkeä (fi), sinnikäs (fi), itsepintainen (fi), itsepäinen (fi)
• French: tenace (fr)
• Galician: releón, tenaz, porfiado, teimudo (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: hartnäckig (de), beharrlich (de)
• Greek: πεισματάρης (el) (peismatáris)
• Hebrew: עיקש (he) (ikésh)
• Hungarian: elszánt (hu), kitartó (hu), állhatatos (hu), makacs (hu), szívós (hu)
• Icelandic: þrár (is), þolgóður, ötull
• Indonesian: ngotot (id)
• Japanese: 頑強な (ja) (がんきょうな, gankyō na)
• Khmer: ស៊ូ (km) (suu)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: tenax
• Macedonian: у́порен (úporen), жи́лав (žílav), твр́доглав (tvŕdoglav)
• Manchu: ᡶᡳᠯᡳ (fili)
• Maori: rae pakari, urupū, aumangea, aumangeo
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hardnakket, urokkelig

• Ottoman Turkish: یاپشقان (yapışkan)
• Polish: uparty (pl), wytrwały (pl), zawzięty (pl)
• Portuguese: tenaz (pt), teimoso (pt), porfiado
• Russian: упря́мый (ru) (uprjámyj), упо́рный (ru) (upórnyj), насто́йчивый (ru) (nastójčivyj)
• Spanish: tenaz (es), tesonero (es)
• Sundanese: keukeuh
• Swedish: fast (sv), orubblig (sv), hårdnackad (sv), ihärdig (sv), seglivad (sv), ståndaktig (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: inatçı (tr), bildiğinden şaşmaz, dik kafalı
• Ukrainian: непоступливий (nepostuplyvyj), наполегливий (napolehlyvyj), впертий (vpertyj)

holding together; cohesive

• Czech: soudržný (cs)
• Finnish: sitkeä (fi), luja (fi)
• German: zusammenhaftend
• Icelandic: haldgóður
• Polish: spoisty, spójny (pl), zwarty (pl)
• Russian: связующий (ru) (svjazujuščij)
• Swedish: seg (sv)

having a good memory; retentive

• Armenian: ուժեղ (hy) (užeġ)
• Finnish: hyvämuistinen (fi)
• German: gedächtnisstark
• Icelandic: minnisgóður
• Malagasy: mahatadidy betsaka
• Polish: trwały (pl)
• Russian: кре́пкий (ru) (krépkij), це́пкий (ru) (cépkij)
• Swedish: säker (sv)

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