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tenant

/ˈtɛ.nənt/noun, verb

tenant is spelled T-E-N-A-N-T: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 6.0 times per million words in written English, the 9,878th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tenant means “One who holds a lease (a tenancy)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tenant is tenants.

How many letters and syllables are in tenant?

Letters6: T-E-N-A-N-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.0 times per million words; the 9,878th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is tenant?

Tenant appears 6.0 times per million words in written English, the 9,878th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce tenant?

  • /ˈtɛ.nənt/

Tenant has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tenant.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of tenant

  • tenants plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • tenanting participle, present
  • tenanted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does tenant mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    One who holds a lease (a tenancy).

  2. 2

    One who has possession of any place.

  3. 3

    Any of a number of customers serviced through the same instance of an application.

    multi-tenant hosting

  4. 4

    One who holds a feudal tenure in real property.

  5. 5

    One who owns real estate other than via allodial title.

  6. 6

    Misconstruction of tenet.

verb

  1. 1

    To hold as, or be, a tenant.

  2. 2

    To inhabit.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Tenant in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlocataire (one who pays a fee in return for the use of…), occupant (one who has possession of any place; a dweller…), louer (to hold as, or be, a tenant)
GermanMieter, Pächter (one who pays a fee in return for the use of…), Bewohner (one who has possession of any place; a dweller…), mieten (to hold as, or be, a tenant), Eigentümer, Besitzer (law: one who holds property)
Portugueseinquilino (one who pays a fee in return for the use of…)
Spanishinquilino, arrendatario (one who pays a fee in return for the use of…), habitante, residente (one who has possession of any place; a dweller…), propietario, dueño (law: one who holds property)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does tenant come from?

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

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after tenant