Tendencies

How to spell tendencies

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce tendencies

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tendencies mean?

1. nounRecurring inclinations or dispositions to behave, develop, or happen in a particular way.

Tendencies in a sentence

• The report flagged his spending tendencies as a risk to the budget.

• Perfectionist tendencies can slow a project to a crawl.

Where does tendencies come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb tendere, which literally meant 'to stretch' or 'to extend'. From that verb medieval Latin formed tendentia, the sense of 'a stretching towards' or 'an inclination', and this passed into English in the early 1600s as 'tendency', a leaning or disposition towards a particular outcome. The plural 'tendencies' simply pluralises that noun, swapping the final -y for -ies in the regular English way. The same tendere root is surprisingly productive in English: it gives us 'tense', 'extend', 'tent' (a stretched cloth), and 'pretend', all sharing that idea of stretching or reaching. The spelling trap lives in the unstressed middle: the -en- in -encies is a schwa that sounds identical to -an-, which is why writers waver between -encies and the wrong -ancies.

How the word is built

• tend (to stretch, to lean)
• -ency (state or quality)
• -ies (plural of -y)