tenant

See also: Tenant

English

Alternative forms

• tenaunt, tennant, tennaunt (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English tenaunt, from Anglo-Norman tenaunt and Old French tenant, present participle of tenir (“to hold”), from Latin tenēre, present active infinitive of teneō (“hold, keep”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.nənt/, enPR: tĕnənt

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnənt

Noun

tenant (plural tenants)

1. One who holds a lease (a tenancy).

   Synonyms: renter, lessee, (rare) rentee

   Hyponyms: subtenant, undertenant, sublessee, underlessee

   • a. 1945, Arthur Morrison, The Thing in the Upper Room‎^[1]:

     Long even before the last tenant had occupied it, the room had been regarded with fear and aversion, and the end of that last tenant had in no way lightened the gloom that hung about the place.

   • 1982, “The Sitting Room”, in The Sitting Room, performed by Anne Clark:

     You are just a tenant here, you say / Living in and out of this life / As cheaply as you can

2. (by extension) One who has possession of any place.

   Synonyms: dweller, occupant

   • c. 1782-1783, William Cowper, Joy in Martyrdom

     sweet tenants of this grove

   • 1647, Abraham Cowley, The Wish:

     the happy tenant of your shade

   • 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XXVIII, page 75:

     But not in silence pass Calypso's isles, / The sister tenants of the middle deep; [...]

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XVI, page 26:

     What words are these have fall’n from me?
     ⁠Can calm despair and wild unrest
     ⁠Be tenants of a single breast,
     Or sorrow such a changeling be?

3. (computing) Any of a number of customers serviced through the same instance of an application.

   multi-tenant hosting

4. (chiefly historical) One who holds a feudal tenure in real property.
5. (property law, by extension) One who owns real estate other than via allodial title.

Derived terms

• anchor tenant
• head tenant
• joint tenant
• kindly tenant
• lead tenant
• life tenant
• multitenancy
• nominated tenant
• se-tenant
• sitting tenant
• sub-tenant
• superior tenant
• tenancy
• tenant at will
• tenant farmer
• tenant-in-chief
• tenant in common
• tenantless
• tenant-right
• tenantry
• tenant saw
• terre-tenant
• ter-tenant
• undertenant

 

Related terms

• tenement

Translations

one who pays a fee in return for the use of land, etc.

• Arabic: مُسْتَأجِر
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: etxetiar, maizter (eu)
• Bulgarian: наемател m (naematel), арендатор m (arendator)
• Catalan: llogater (ca) m; inquilí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 房客 (zh) (fángkè), (farmer) 佃戶／佃户 (zh) (diànhù), 租戶／租户 (zh) (zūhù)

• Cornish: gobrener m, gobrenores f
• Czech: nájemce (cs) m, nájemník (cs) m
• Danish: lejer (da) c
• Dutch: pachter (nl) m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: vuokralainen (fi), vuokraaja (fi), vuokramies, torppari (fi)
• French: locataire (fr) m or f
• Galician: rendeiro m, inquilino m, arrendatario (gl) m, caseiro m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Mieter (de) m, Pächter (de) m
• Greek: ενοικιαστής (el) m (enoikiastís), μισθωτής (el) m (misthotís)
• Hungarian: bérlő (hu), (in the Middle Ages, serf or villein) jobbágy (hu)
• Icelandic: leigjandi m, leigutaki (is) m
• Ido: lokacanto (io), lokacero (io)
• Irish: tionónta m
• Italian: inquilino (it), locatario (it)
• Japanese: 借地人 (shakuchi-nin), (farmer): 小作人 (ja) (kosaku-nin)
• Khmer: អ្នក​ជួល (nĕək-cuəl)
• Ladino: kiradjí
• Latin: inquilīnus m
• Maori: kairīhi
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: locataithe m or f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: leieboer m

• Persian: مست (fa), مستاجر (fa) (mosta'jer)
• Polish: dzierżawca (pl) m, najemca (pl) m, lokator (pl) m
• Portuguese: inquilino (pt) m
• Russian: аренда́тор (ru) m (arendátor), съёмщик (ru) m (sʺjómščik), квартиросъёмщик (ru) m (kvartirosʺjómščik) (of an apartment)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: станар m, станарка f

  Roman: stanar (sh) m, stanarka (sh) f

• Spanish: inquilino (es), arrendatario (es) m
• Swedish: (of an apartment) hyresgäst (sv) c, (usually of land) arrendator (sv) c
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: kiracı (tr)
• Ukrainian: квартирант m (kvartyrant)
• Vietnamese: người thuê
• Welsh: tenant m

one who has possession of any place; a dweller; an occupant

• Bulgarian: обитател (bg) m (obitatel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 房客 (zh) (fángkè)

• Danish: beboer (da)
• Dutch: bewoner (nl) m, huurder (nl) m
• Finnish: asukas (fi)
• French: occupant (fr) m
• German: Bewohner (de) m, Mieter (de) m
• Greek: ένοικος (el) m or f (énoikos)
• Hungarian: lakó (hu)
• Icelandic: ábúandi m
• Ido: okupanto (io), okupero (io), habitanto (io), habitero (io)
• Japanese: 借り主 (kari-nushi)
• Latin: inquilīnus m
• Norwegian: leieboer
• Russian: жиле́ц (ru) m (žiléc), квартиросъёмщик (ru) m (kvartirosʺjómščik) (of an apartment)
• Spanish: habitante (es) m, residente (es) m
• Swedish: hyresgäst (sv)
• Turkish: kiracı (tr), sakin (tr)

law: one who holds property

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: собственик (bg) m (sobstvenik)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: vlastník (cs) m
• Dutch: eigenaar (nl) m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: (kiinteistön) haltija
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Eigentümer (de) m, Besitzer (de) m
• Greek: νομέας (el) m (noméas), επικαρπωτής (el) m (epikarpotís)
• Hungarian: tulajdonos (hu)
• Irish: tionónta m
• Japanese: 賃借人 (ja) (chinshaku-nin), 賃借人 (ja) (chingari-nin)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: владелец (ru) m (vladelec), собственник (ru) (sobstvennik)
• Spanish: propietario (es) m, dueño (es) m
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: sahip (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} huurder (nl)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} inquilino (it)
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} stanar (sh), ^{(please verify)} zakupac (sh)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} nájomník m, ^{(please verify)} nájomca m
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} Arrendera

See also

• tenet

Verb

tenant (third-person singular simple present tenants, present participle tenanting, simple past and past participle tenanted)

1. To hold as, or be, a tenant.

   Synonym: lodge

2. (transitive) To inhabit.
   • 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh:  […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

     His thin legs tenanted a pair of gambadoes fastened at the side with rusty clasps.

   • 1835, Charles Lyell, chapter IX, in Principles of Geology […] , 4th edition, volume III, London: John Murray, Book III, page 129:

     The felling of dense and lofty forests, which covered, even within the records of history, a considerable space on the globe, now tenanted by civilized man, must generally have lessened the amount of vegetable food throughout the space where these woods grew.

   • 1922, Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization‎^[2], page 235:

     They lived in palatial residences […] their harems tenanted by numerous women […]

Translations

to hold as, or be, a tenant

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 租借 (zh) (zūjiè), 租 (zh) (zū)

• Finnish: vuokrata (fi)
• French: louer (fr)
• German: mieten (de)
• Greek: ενοικιάζω (el) (enoikiázo), μισθώνω (el) (misthóno)
• Japanese: 借りる (ja) (kariru), (land): 土地を借りる (tochi o kariru)
• Russian: арендова́ть (ru) impf (arendovátʹ), снима́ть (ru) impf (snimátʹ)
• Swedish: hyra (sv), arrendera (sv)
• Turkish: kiralamak (tr)

Etymology 2

Possibly just a modification of tenet, but note obsolete tenent (“tenet”).

Noun

tenant

1. Misconstruction of tenet

Anagrams

• -netant, Annett

Cebuano

Etymology

From English tenant, borrowed from Anglo-Norman tenaunt, from Old French tenant, present participle of tenir (“to hold”), from Latin tenēre, present active infinitive of teneō (“hold, keep”). Doublet of tener and tinidor.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: te‧nant

Noun

tenant

1. a tenant; one who pays a fee (rent) in return for the use of land, buildings, or other property owned by others
2. one who has possession of any place; a dweller; an occupant
3. (law) one who holds a property by any kind of right, including ownership

French

Etymology

Present participle of tenir. From Old French tenant; corresponding to Latin tenentem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tə.nɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

tenant m (plural tenants)

1. advocate, supporter
2. a single contiguous piece, especially of land

   d’un seul tenant ― in one piece, in a single holding

3. (in the plural) the land adjoining a property along its longer sides

   Antonym: aboutissants

4. (historical) tenant, holder (host of a medieval tournament who took on challengers)
5. (law, dated) tenant (holder of a lease)
6. (heraldry) supporter

Derived terms

• tenants et aboutissants
• tenants et aboutissements

Participle

tenant

1. present participle of tenir

Related terms

• lieutenant

Further reading

• “tenant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• entant

Old French

Alternative forms

• tenaunt (Anglo-Norman, noun, adjective, verb)

Etymology

From the verb tenir (“to hold; to possess”); corresponding to Latin tenens, tenentem.

Noun

tenant oblique singular, m (oblique plural tenanz or tenantz, nominative singular tenanz or tenantz, nominative plural tenant)

1. holder
2. possessor (of land or property); tenant

Adjective

tenant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular tenant or tenante)

1. holder; owner (attributively)
2. sticky; adhesive
3. strong (of an object, etc.)

Verb

tenant

1. present participle of tenir

Descendants

• → English: tenant
• French: tenant

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (tenant)
• tenant on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

Welsh

Etymology

Borrowed from English tenant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛnant/

Noun

tenant m (plural tenantiaid)

1. tenant

Derived terms

• tenantiaeth (“tenancy”)

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
tenant	denant	nhenant	thenant
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “tenant”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies