contend
/kənˈtɛnd/
verb
Origin
Latin
contendere — to stretch, strive, struggle
Overview
Meaning Now
- To struggle in opposition to a rival or against difficulties.
- To assert something as a position in an argument.
Literal older meaning
to stretch together
Language path
Latin → Old French → English
Earliest form
contendre
Earliest period
14th century
Journey
The word stems from the Latin 'contendere', which literally meant to stretch something to its limit or to stretch with someone. By extension, it came to mean a contest or struggle where parties 'stretched' their efforts against one another, eventually branching into the intellectual sense of 'stretching' an argument forward as a statement of fact.
Evolution
- Latin
contendere
“to stretch together; to strive”
From com- (together) + tendere (to stretch).
- Old French
contendre
“to strive, fight, argue”
- Middle English
contenden
“to argue, to compete”
- Modern English
contend
“to compete; to assert”
Connections
Word parts
con-
prefix
together
tend
root
to stretch
Related across languages
French
contendre
to contend
Spanish
contender
to contend, to compete
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External references use DefinedTerm semantics.