tenuis

See also: Tenuis

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛnjuːɪs/, /ˈtɛnuːɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛnjuɪs/, /ˈtɛnuɪs/

Adjective

tenuis (not comparable)

1. (linguistics) Of Greek consonants, neither aspirated nor voiced, as [p], [t], [k]
2. (linguistics) Of 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.).
   • 2016, Malá & Šaffková, editor, ELT Revisited, page 11:

     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].

Noun

tenuis (plural tenues)

1. (linguistics) A tenuis consonant.
   • 1887, Max Müller, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     The tenuis becomes aspirate in Low-German.

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

     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

Antonyms

• media
• aspirate

Anagrams

• Suiten, intuse, unites, unties

Latin

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us (“thin”). Original u-stem adjectives are regularly extended into i-stem ones in Latin, compare gravis, brevis, dulcis, etc.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈte.nu.is/, [ˈt̪ɛnuɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈte.nu.is/, [ˈt̪ɛːnuis]
• (sometimes in poetry) (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈten.u̯is/, [ˈt̪ɛnu̯ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈten.vis/, [ˈt̪ɛɱvis]

Adjective

tenuis (neuter tenue, comparative tenuior, superlative tenuissimus, adverb tenuiter); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. thin, fine, slender
2. weak, feeble, tenuous

   Synonyms: dēbilis, languidus, aeger, frāctus, fessus, īnfirmus, mollis, obnoxius, inops

   Antonyms: praevalēns, fortis, potis, potēns, validus, strēnuus, compos

3. slight, trifling
4. delicate, subtle, watery
5. (transferred sense) phantom
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.565–566:

     nunc animae tenuēs et corpora fūncta sepulcrīs errant

     Now phantom spirits wander abroad, and bodies that have been committed to the tombs
     1851. The Fasti &c of Ovid. Trans. Henry T. Riley. London: H. G. Bohn. pg. 71-72.

   • [1902, George Hempl, “The Duenos Inscription”, in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, volume 33 (in English), Boston: Ginn & Company, page 163:

     The mānēs were the ‘rare ones’ or the ‘thin ones,’ the ‘spirits’ or ‘shades’ of the dead, otherwise known as animae tenuēs and umbrae tenuēs.]

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	tenuis	tenue		tenuēs	tenuia
genitive	tenuis			tenuium
dative	tenuī			tenuibus
accusative	tenuem	tenue		tenuēs tenuīs	tenuia
ablative	tenuī			tenuibus
vocative	tenuis	tenue		tenuēs	tenuia

Derived terms

• tenue
• tenuistīpitātus (Medieval Latin)
• tenuitās
• tenuiter
• tenuō

Related terms

• tener

Descendants

• Catalan: tènue
• French: ténu
• Italian: tenue
• Sicilian: tènui
• Spanish: tenue
• Walloon: tene
• → English: tenuis; →⇒ tenuious, tenuous
• → English: tenuis
• → German: Tenuis
• → Portuguese: ténue, tênue (Brazil)

Further reading

• “tenuis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tenuis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• tenuis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • elevated, moderate, plain style: genus dicendi grave or grande, medium, tenue (cf. Or. 5. 20; 6. 21)
    
  • meagre diet: victus tenuis (Fin. 2. 28. 90)
    
  • little money: pecunia exigua or tenuis