subtend
English
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subtend
- /sʌbˈtɛnd/
Rhymes with -ɛnd
Where it comes from
From Latin subtendere, from sub (“under”) + tendere (“to stretch, extend”), itself a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ὑποτείνω (hupoteínō, “to subtend”), from which hypotenuse also derives. See tend.
verb subtends · subtending · subtended
- To use an angle to delimit (mark off, enclose) part of a straight or curved line, for example an arc or the opposite side of a triangle. A 43° angle subtends an arc of about 0.75 meters on a circle with a radius of 1 meter.
- To extend or stretch opposite something; to be part of a straight or curved line that is opposite to and delimits an angle. A hypotenuse subtends the right angle of a right triangle.
- To form the central angle of a circle underneath an arc. The points A and B on the circumference form the arc AB, which subtends the central angle θ.
- To stand beneath or close to, as a bract at the base of a flower.
Translations
Every language
verb to use an angle to delimit part of a straight or curved line
| Русский | стя́гивать stjágivatʹ |
|---|---|
| Tiếng Việt | chắn (cung) |
verb to extend or stretch opposite something, often to delimit an angle
| Français | sous-tendre |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | sich erstrecken gegenüber von, gegenüberliegen, abschneiden, begrenzen |
| Italiano | sottendere |
Talk about this word "subtend." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/subtend. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. subtend. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/subtend "subtend." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/subtend.Cite this
@misc{subtend_2026,
title = {subtend},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/subtend},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
