tenuis

Unadapted borrowing from Latin tenuis (“thin, fine; weak”). Doublet of thin.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛnjuːɪs/, /ˈtɛnuːɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛnjuɪs/, /ˈtɛnuɪs/
• Homophone: tenuous (when unstressed /ɪ/ = [ə])

tenuis (not comparable)

1. (linguistics) Of Greek consonants, neither aspirated nor voiced, as [p], [t], [k]
2. (linguistics) Of obstruents in other languages, not voiced, aspirated, glottalized, or otherwise different in phonation from the prototypical values of the voiceless IPA letters ([p], [t], [k], [f], [θ], [s], [ʃ], etc.).
   • 2016, Malá & Šaffková, editor, ELT Revisited, page 11:

     The superscript equal sign ˭ is here used to denote the Czech tenuis consonant, in this case the plosive [t˭], which lacks aspiration, in order to contrast it with its aspirated counterpart in English [tʰ].

tenuis (plural tenues)

1. (linguistics) A tenuis consonant.
   • 1887, Max Müller, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     The tenuis becomes aspirate in Low-German.

   • 1913, John Morris-Jones, A Welsh grammar, page 184:

     Since the explosive was a tenuis before a consonant we have -p m- and -t n-; these combinations were mutated to mh and nh in the following examples, the voicelessness of the tenuis being retained after its assimilation

• media
• aspirate

• Suiten, intuse, unites, unties

• tēnvis (poetic)

Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us (“thin”).^[1][2][3] Original u-stem adjectives are regularly extended into i-stem ones in Latin, compare gravis, brevis, dulcis, etc.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈtɛ.nu.ɪs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈt̪ɛː.nu.is]

tenuis (neuter tenue, comparative tenuior, superlative tenuissimus, adverb tenuiter); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. (of textures or forms) thin, slender, slim, lank; especially:

   Synonyms: exīlis, vēscus

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.104:

     Ut lea saeva sitim multa conpescuit unda, dum redit in silvas, inventos forte sine ipsa ore cruentato tenues laniavit amictus.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   1. (with anima or umbra) synonym of mānēs, the manes^[4]
      • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.565–566:

        Nunc animae tenuēs et corpora fūncta sepulcrīs errant, […]

        • 1851 translation by Henry T. Riley, The Fasti &c of Ovid., London: H. G. Bohn, p. 71-72

          Now phantom spirits wander abroad, and bodies that have been committed to the tombs, […]

2. (of substances) fine, rare, thin; pure, clear, not coarse
   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgics 2.346–353:

     Quod superest, quaecumque premes virgulta per agros,
     Sparge fimo pingui et multa memor occule terra,
     Aut lapidem bibulum aut squalentis infode conchas;
     Inter enim labentur aquae tenuisque subibit
     Halitus atque animos tollent sata; iamque reperti,
     Qui saxo super atque ingentis pondere testae
     Urgerent; hoc effusos munimen ad imbris,
     Hoc, ubi hiulca siti findit canis aestifer arva.

     • Translation by James B. Greenough

       For the rest, whate'er
       The sets thou plantest in thy fields, thereon
       Strew refuse rich, and with abundant earth
       Take heed to hide them, and dig in withal
       Rough shells or porous stone, for therebetween
       Will water trickle and fine vapour creep,
       And so the plants their drooping spirits raise.
       Aye, and there have been, who with weight of stone
       Or heavy potsherd press them from above;
       This serves for shield in pelting showers, and this
       When the hot dog-star chaps the fields with drought.

3. weak, feeble, tenuous

   Synonyms: dēbilis, languidus, aeger, frāctus, fessus, īnfirmus, mollis, obnoxius, inops

   Antonyms: praevalēns, fortis, potis, potēns, validus, strēnuus, compos

   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 5.40:

     Ipse Cicero, cum tenuissima valetudine esset, ne nocturnum quidem sibi tempus ad quietem relinquebat, ut ultro militum concursu ac vocibus sibi parcere cogeretur.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. little, slight, trifling

   Synonyms: parvus, paulus, pusillus

   • 70 BCE, Cicero, In Verrem 2.2.53:

     Bidis oppidum est tenue sane, non longe a Syracusis.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. delicate, subtle

   Synonyms: ēlegāns, subtīlis

   • c. 65 CE, Seneca the Younger, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium Liber XIV - XV.XCIV.35:

     'Infinita' inquit 'praecepta sunt.' Falsum est; nam de maximis ac necessariis rebus non sunt infinita; tenues autem differentias habent quas exigunt tempora, loca, personae, sed his quoque dantur praecepta generalia.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

• tener

• Catalan: tènue
• French: ténu
• Italian: tenue
• Occitan: teune

  Languedocien: teunhe

• Sicilian: tènui
• Spanish: tenue
• Walloon: tene
• → English: tenuis; →⇒ tenuious, tenuous
• → English: tenuis
• → German: Tenuis
• → Portuguese: ténue, tênue (Brazil)

• “tenuis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tenuis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “tenuis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • elevated, moderate, plain style: genus dicendi grave or grande, medium, tenue (cf. Or. 5. 20; 6. 21)
    
  • meagre diet: victus tenuis (Fin. 2. 28. 90)
    
  • little money: pecunia exigua or tenuis