tend.
To make a tender of; to offer or tender.
Meaning & usage
To make a tender of; to offer or tender.
To be likely, or probable to do something, or to have a certain habit or leaning.
They tend to go out on Saturdays.
It tends to snow here in winter.
To contribute to or toward some outcome.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English tenden, from Middle French tendre, from Old French tendre (“to stretch, stretch out, hold forth, offer, tender”), from Latin tendere (“to stretch, stretch out, extend, spread out”).
To look after (e.g. an ill person.)
We need to tend to the garden, which has become a mess.
To accompany as an assistant or protector; to care for the wants of; to look after; to watch; to guard.
Shepherds tend their flocks.
To wait (upon), as attendants or servants; to serve; to attend.
To await; to expect.
To be attentive to; to note carefully; to attend to.
To manage (an anchored vessel) when the tide turns, to prevent it from entangling the cable when swinging.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English tenden (“to pay attention to”), by apheresis of attenden (“to attend”) or entenden (“to intend”). More at attend and intend.
To kindle; ignite; set on fire; light; inflame; burn.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English tenden, from Old English tendan (“to kindle, set on fire”) (usually in compounds ātendan, fortendan, ontendan), from Proto-Germanic *tandijaną (“to kindle”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Danish tænde (“to kindle”), Swedish tända (“to ignite”), Gothic 𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (tandjan, “to kindle”), Icelandic tendra (“to ignite”), German zünden (“to light, ignite, fire”). Related to tinder.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.