ent

See also: Ent, ENT, ént, ënt, ent-, -ent, and ent.

Translingual

Etymology

Abbreviation of French partie entière, Spanish parta entera, etc.

Symbol

ent

1. (mathematics, rare) A symbol for the floor function.

Usage notes

Mentioned in ISO 80000-2:2019 as an alternative to the ⌊x⌋ bracket notation.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛnt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Old English ent (“giant”), from Proto-West Germanic *anti; introduced by J. R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings, 1954–55.

Compare Middle English *ent, eont (“giant”), inherited from the Old English word, but which apparently didn't survive through the Middle English period into Modern times. Apparently survived in some German dialects as Enz (“giant”), also in composite forms. Compare ettin.

Noun

ent (plural ents) (feminine entwife)

1. (fantasy) A fictional, large, humanoid, mobile talking tree in works by J. R. R. Tolkien.
   • 2001, Stephen King, Peter Straub, p133 The Talisman:

     Ents and Entwives, Jack thought crazily. BAD Ents and Entwives.

   • 2003, Walter Scheps, “The Fairy-tale Morality of The Lord of the Rings”, in Jared Lobdell, editor, A Tolkien Compass:

     […] and that fine young ent Quickbeam is merely a minor crux in an Old English glossary (the name Quickbeam means 'living tree' in Old English).

   • 2003, Colin Duriez, Tolkien and C. S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship:

     Tolkien's Treebeard, his Ent creation, was inspired by Lewis, especially his sometimes emphatic deep voice

   • 2003, Ralph C. Wood, The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth:

     Tolkien perhaps speaks for himself when he has Treebeard confess that "nobody cares for the woods as I care for them," and when this same Ent also warns that "the withering of all woods may be drawing near"

   • 2003, Allen Paterson, p180 Trees for Your Garden:

     But this should not lead to complete avoidance, as if it is like some dire incursion of triffids or ents.

   • 2003, Robert Dunn, p98 Horse Latitudes:

     Somewhere, ents and manitous laugh grimly For, despite all this, the trees lasted much longer Than most of the presents, and all of the holiday spirit.

   • 2006, John Allran, p37 Men of Their Word:

     Hello, my good friend, myself I present. Not human, nor tree, for I am an ent.

   • 2004, Paola Amico, James Beletic, page xxvi Scientific Detectors for Astronomy: The Beginning of a New Era:

     The Ents are a race of giant, tree-like people. Their purpose is to protect the electrons, though some align themselves with holes. However, as the great arrays have grown, the number of Ents has dwindled. Now they are said only to be found in the darkest and most mysterious of laboratories.

Derived terms

• treant

Translations

a fictional large talking tree

• Bengali: এণ্ট (enṭo)
• Finnish: entti (fi)
• German: Ent m
• Marathi: एन्ट m (enṭa)
• Russian: энт m (ent)
• Serbo-Croatian: ент m, ent m

Etymology 2

Possibly from empty, through assimilation of the "m" to the following "t"

Verb

ent (third-person singular simple present ents, present participle enting, simple past and past participle ented)

1. (dialect, Britain, Devon) To empty or pour.
   • 1976, K. C. Phillips, Westcountry Words and Ways, Newton Abbot: David & Charles, page 47:

     A Truro correspondent remembers being sent to buy a teapot with the admonition 'and see he got a good ent to un'; that is, of course, a good 'pour'.
     "Enting down with rain" is still occasionally heard.

Anagrams

• .NET, NET, Net, TEN, net, ten

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛnt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch ente, from enten (“to graft”) (modern Dutch enten), from Old French enter, from Latin imputāre.

Noun

ent m (plural enten, diminutive entje n)

1. graft (particularly on a tree)

Descendants

• → Indonesian: enten (from the plural)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

ent

1. inflection of enten:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

Anagrams

• net, ten

Estonian

Etymology

Borrowed from Proto-Norse [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *anþi. Compare Finnish entä (“what about; what if”).

Conjunction

ent

1. but

Ladin

Alternative forms

• ënt

Noun

ent m (plural enc)

1. entity
2. corporation, body

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *anti, from unknown origin. Cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐍄- (ant-, “giant-”, prefix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ent/

Noun

ent m

1. giant

Declension

Declension of ent (strong i-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	ent	entas
accusative	ent	entas
genitive	entes	enta
dative	ente	entum

Synonyms

• eoten
• þyrs

Derived terms

• entisċ

Descendants

• Middle English: eont
• → English: ent

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *antiz (“giant”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Old English ent, Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐍄- (ant-, “giant-”, prefix).

Noun

ent m

1. giant

Declension

Declension of ent (masculine a-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	ent	entos
accusative	ent	entos
genitive	entes	entō
dative	ente	entum
instrumental	—	—

Derived terms

• entisk

Portuguese

Adverb

ent (not comparable)

1. (Internet slang) Abbreviation of então.

Conjunction

ent

1. (Internet slang) Abbreviation of então.

Interjection

ent

1. (Internet slang) Abbreviation of então.

Scots

Verb

ent (third-person singular simple present ents, present participle entin, simple past ented, past participle ented)

1. Shetland form of aint

References

• “ent, v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.