TEN-durz
/ˈtɛndɚz/
tenders is pronounced TEN-durz (/ˈtɛndɚz/). Tenders is the plural of tender, referring to items or people that offer or convey care, or to individuals who submit bids in a procurement process. In everyday usage, it can mean soft, delicate textures, or proposals and quotes in business contexts. The word often appears in plural form when discussing multiple offers, declarations of care, or menu items.
Tenders is the plural of tender, referring to items or people that offer or convey care, or to individuals who submit bids in a procurement process. In everyday usage, it can mean soft, delicate textures, or proposals and quotes in business contexts. The word often appears in plural form when discussing multiple offers, declarations of care, or menu items.
"The restaurant offers two tenders—chicken strips with a tangy glaze and crispy tenders on the side."
"The city issued several new construction tenders for the bridge project."
"You’ll find chicken tenders on the kids’ menu at several restaurants."
It is pronounced with two syllables: TEN-ders. In US: /ˈtɛn.dɚz/ with a rhotacized final 'er' and a schwa-ish second syllable. In UK: /ˈten.dəz/ without rhotacization of 'r'. In Australian: /ˈten.dəz/ similar to UK but with a slightly flatter vowel. Ensure the primary stress on the first syllable: TEN-derz. Visualize [t] + [ɛ] + [n] + [d] + [ər/ə] + [z].
Common errors include: 1) Dropping the final z-sound: pronounce /z/ clearly as in /ˈtɛn.dɚz/. 2) Reducing the first vowel to a schwa: keep /ɛ/ as in ‘ten’. 3) Rhotic mistakes in US: avoid conflating /ɚ/ to a simple /ɝ/ unless appropriate; keep the unstressed second syllable with a soft schwa. Practice with minimal pairs: ten-ders vs ten-ders? ( emphasize the final /z ).
US tends to fully voice the final /ɚ/ and /z/ as /ɚz/ with rhoticity; UK often uses /ˈten.dəz/ (non-rhotic, less vocalized r), and AU is similar to UK but with slightly broader diphthongs and a more relaxed /ə/ in the second syllable. The first vowel typically /ɛ/ in all, but vowel quality may be more rounded in AU.
Because the final cluster /-dz/ or /-z/ can create a subtle transition: you need to unstick the tongue from the alveolar stop /d/ and produce a clear voiced sibilant /z/ while maintaining the unstressed schwa on the second syllable in US and AU. For some speakers, the /ɚ/ realization in US adds complexity due to rhoticity. Paying attention to consonant cluster timing helps.
The key is the contrast between the stressed first syllable and the reduced second syllable, plus the final voiced alveolar sibilant. You’ll hear and should produce a clear /ˈtɛn.dɚz/ (US) vs /ˈten.dəz/ (UK/AU). Practicing with paired minimal contrasts like ‘tender’ vs ‘tenders’ sharpens the edge between the plural suffix /-z/ and the base word.”
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Tenders originates from the noun tender, meaning one who tends or offers. The term tender has Light Middle English roots from the verb tendere, influenced by Old French tendre, Latin tendere ‘to stretch, aim, extend, exert’, and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root ten- ‘to stretch’. The plural form tenders appears in the sense of things that are tender or offerings (as in “tender of bids”) by the 16th–17th centuries, evolving in business contexts to refer to formal offers or proposals, especially in procurement. Over time, “tender” also came to describe soft textures (as in meat or fabric), leveraging the idea of something easy to bite or endure. The phrase “tenders” in the sense of bids became common in commerce and government procurement in early modern English, with “tender” transitioning into a label for formalized offers and contracts. First known uses appear in trade records and legislative documents, where officials referred to “tenders” as submitted bids or proposals, and later extended to menu items (chicken tenders) and other offerings that are tender in texture or care. The evolution reflects a semantic shift from a literal act of tending or offering to the abstract sense of submissions and soft textures that are easy to (figuratively) extend or break down.
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Words that rhyme with "tenders"
-ers sounds
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