Wordwyrt

distend

/dɪsˈtend/dih-STEND
/dɪsˈtɛnd/dih-STEND

Meaningto stretch apart

Common meaning: to swell out from pressure inside

‘apart, away’ + ‘to stretch out’ → distend

Journey through time

  1. Latintendō, tetendī, tentum/tēnsum‘to stretch out’
  2. Englishdistend‘to swell out from pressure inside’ · today

dis- also in: disarmdiscerndiscorddisdaindisgust

tend also in: intentintentlysuperintend

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin tendō ‘to stretch out; to aim at’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry tendō, p. 1852 · dictionary scan

Roots

Related words

attendextendintendintentintentlypretendsuperintend

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