overwordExplorer
SPANISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

alentar.

to encourage, animate

7 characters3 syllables approx.Español language

Meaning & usage

verb/alenˈtaɾ/[a.lẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]
  1. to encourage, animate

    transitive
    Hay que alentarla un poco.
    El oficial alentó a sus hombres.
  2. to gather up one's courage

    reflexive
  3. to recuperate; to recover from an illness.

    Chile · Colombia · Cuba · Dominican-Republic · El-Salvador · Guatemala · Honduras · Nicaragua · Panama · Peru · Puerto-Rico · Venezuela · colloquial · intransitive · pronominal
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁- Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁-slo- Proto-Italic *anaslos Latin anhēlus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin anhēlō Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Italic *-tus Latin -tus Vulgar Latin anhēlitus ▲ Vulgar Latin -āre Vulgar Latin *an(h)ēlitāre Vulgar Latin *alēnitāre Spanish alentar Inherited from Vulgar Latin *alēnitāre, a metathetic variant of *an(h)ēlitāre, from anhēlitus (“breathe”) + -āre. The diphthongization in rhizotonic conjugations (yo aliento) is etymologically unexpected, considering the Latin /ē/, but may have to do with analogy with other verbs ending in -entar, such as sentar. In that case, the diphtongization in Asturian alendar would perhaps be due to Castilian influence.

verb/alenˈtaɾ/[a.lẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]
  1. to slow down, become slow

    Latin-America
  2. to become or behave as a shy, shameful or fearful person

    Mexico · reflexive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Spanish a- Proto-Indo-European *lent- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Italic *lentos Latin lentusbor. Spanish lento Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -āre Old Spanish -ar Spanish -ar Spanish alentar From a- + lento (“slow”) + -ar.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

alentar has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

alentar studioalentar workshello, alentar

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.