Tighten

How to spell tighten

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce tighten

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does tighten mean?

1. verbTo make or become firmer, tauter, or more secure.

Tighten in a sentence

• Please tighten the bolts before you test the shelf.

• The bank decided to tighten its lending rules this quarter.

Where does tighten come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a Germanic word at heart, built on the adjective 'tight' plus the very old suffix '-en' that turns an adjective into a verb meaning 'to make' or 'to become' (the same suffix you see in 'harden', 'soften' and 'widen'). The adjective 'tight' goes back to Middle English 'tiht', meaning 'dense' or 'watertight', and it is closely related to the Old Norse 'thettr', which described something packed solid or sealed against water. Over time 'tight' shifted from meaning 'sealed' to meaning 'drawn taut' or 'firmly fixed', and the verb 'tighten' followed naturally to describe the act of making something more taut. The verb form is comparatively late, appearing in English around the early 1700s once '-en' had become a productive way of coining such verbs. The spelling trap lives entirely in the silent 'gh', a fossil of an old guttural sound that English stopped pronouncing but never stopped writing.

How the word is built

• tight (firm, taut)
• -en (verb-forming suffix meaning 'to make or become')

Words that sound like tighten

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• titan: A person or thing of exceptional size, strength, importance, or achievement.