Tenor

See also: tenor, tenór, and ténor

German

Etymology 1

From Middle High German tenōr, from Italian tenore, from Latin tenor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /teˈnoːr/, [teˈnoːɐ̯], [tə-], [-ˈnɔɐ̯], (Switzerland) [-ˈnoːr]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Tenor m (strong, genitive Tenors or Tenores, plural Tenöre or (rare) Tenore)

1. (music) tenor

Declension

Declension of Tenor [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Tenor	die	Tenöre, Tenore
genitive	eines	des	Tenors, Tenores	der	Tenöre, Tenore
dative	einem	dem	Tenor, Tenore1	den	Tenören, Tenoren
accusative	einen	den	Tenor	die	Tenöre, Tenore

¹Now rare, see notes.

Related terms

• Tenorposaune, Tenorsänger, Tenorstimme
• Heldentenor

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin tenor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈteːnoːr/, [ˈteː.noːɐ̯], [-nɔɐ̯], (Switzerland) [-noːr]

Noun

Tenor m (strong, genitive Tenors, no plural)

1. general content, tone and disposition expressed in one or more statements; tenor

   Synonyms: Grundgedanke, Grundton, Grundstimmung

   Der Tenor der Leserbriefe war ganz überwiegend negativ.

   The tenor of letters to the editor was much predominantly negative.

2. (law, Germany, sometimes Austria) operative part of a court order

   Synonyms: (Germany) Entscheidungsformel, (Switzerland) Dispositiv, (Austria) Urteilsspruch

Declension

Declension of Tenor [sg-only, masculine, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Tenor
genitive	eines	des	Tenors
dative	einem	dem	Tenor
accusative	einen	den	Tenor

Derived terms

•  tenorieren (“to impart an operative part”)

Further reading

• “Tenor” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Tenor” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Tenor” in Duden online
• Tenor on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de