tenant

See also: Tenant

English

Alternative forms

• tenaunt (obsolete)
• tennant (obsolete)
• tennaunt (obsolete)

Etymology 1

(deprecated template usage)

[1325] 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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.nənt/, enPR: tĕnənt
• Rhymes: -ɛnənt

Noun

tenant (plural tenants)

1. One who pays a fee (rent) in return for the use of land, buildings, or other property owned by others.
   • (Can we date this quote?), 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. One who has possession of any place; a dweller; an occupant.
   • (Can we date this quote by Cowper and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     sweet tenants of this grove

   • (Can we date this quote by Cowley and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     the happy tenant of your shade

   • (Can we date this quote by Byron and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     the sister tenants of the middle deep

3. (law) One who holds a property by any kind of right, including ownership.
4. (computing) Any of a number of customers serviced through the same instance of an application.

Synonyms

• lessee
• renter
• rentee

Derived terms

Derived terms

• multitenancy
• tenancy

• tenantless
• tenantry

Related terms

Category English terms derived from the Tama (Colombia) root tenant- not found

Translations

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

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: llogater (ca) m; inquilí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 房客 (zh) (fángkè), (farmer) 佃戶／佃户 (zh) (diànhù), 佃户 (zh) (diànhù), 租戶／租户 (zh) (zūhù), 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: jobbágy (hu) (only in The Middle Ages, villein)
• 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 (kosaku-nin)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• 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
• 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, 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: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: tenant m

occupant

• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: bérlő (hu)
• Icelandic: ábúandi m
• Ido: okupanto, okupero, 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
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: vlastník (cs) 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: tionónta m
• Japanese: 賃借人 (chinshaku-nin), 賃借人 (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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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.
2. (transitive) To inhabit.
   • (Can we date this quote by Sir Walter Scott and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

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

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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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 tenant, but note obsolete tenent (“tenet”).

Noun

tenant

1. Misconstruction of tenet

Anagrams

• Annett

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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 tenens, tenentem.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

tenant

1. present participle of tenir

Related terms

• lieutenant

Anagrams

• entant

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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