ent
/ɛnt/
ent noun: a large, fictional, humanoid, walking tree in works by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Noun (1)
ent (plural ents)
- A large, fictional, humanoid, walking tree in works by J. R. R. Tolkien.
- […]and that fine young ent Quickbeam is merely a minor crux in an Old English glossary (the name Quickbeam means 'living tree' in Old English).2003, Walter Scheps, “The Fairy-tale Morality of The Lord of the Rings”, in Jared Lobdell, editor, A Tolkien Compass
- But this should not lead to complete avoidance, as if it is like some dire incursion of triffids or ents.2003, Allen Paterson, Trees for Your Garden, page 180
Verb
ent (third-person singular simple present ents, present participle enting, simple past and past participle ented)
- To pour, especially of rain.
- "[…] ent me out some beer, / Fill up my glass to quinch my thust, Weth bitter like thee'st gove me fust."1880, Cornish tales, Cornish tales, in prose and verse, in the Cornish dialect [ed. by J.T. Tregellas]., page 26
- A Truro correspondent remembers being sent to buy a teapot with the admonition 'and see he got a good ent to un'; that is, of course, a good 'pour'.
"Enting down with rain" is still occasionally heard.1976, K. C. Phillips, Westcountry Words and Ways, Newton Abbot: David & Charles, page 47
Noun (2) capitalized: ENT
ENT (countable and uncountable, plural ENTs)
- Initialism of ear, nose and throat.
- An otorhinolaryngologist; a physician who treats the ear, nose, and throat.
- Initialism of extreme nuclear transient.
- Synonyms:
- extreme nuclear transient
Noun (3) capitalized: Ent
Ent (plural Ents)
- Alternative letter-case form of ent.
- The strange words and names that the Hobbits record as used by Treebeard and other Ents are thus Elvish, or fragments of Elf-speech strung together in Ent-fashion.1955 October 20, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings […], New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published December 1978, →ISBN, page 510
- Ents and Entwives, Jack thought crazily. BAD Ents and Entwives.2001, Stephen King, Peter Straub, The Talisman, page 133
ent meaning in Marathi and Bengali
ent in Marathi
- a fictional large talking tree
- एन्ट enṭa
ent in Bengali
- a fictional large talking tree
- এণ্ট enṭo
Examples of ent in a sentence
- Somewhere, ents and manitous laugh grimly For, despite all this, the trees lasted much longer Than most of the presents, and all of the holiday spirit.2003, Robert Dunn, Horse Latitudes, page 98:
- Huorn are ents who have become more treeish, gone rogue.2017, Inga Simpson, Understory, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
- 'Tis enting down.' 'Put yer clothes on, then,' said Katie.2019 October 22, Winston Graham, The Twisted Sword: A Novel of Cornwall, 1815, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN:
Synonyms of ent
- extreme nuclear transient
Forms of ent
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ents |
| alternative form | Ent |
| plural | ENTs |
| plural | Ents |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ents |
| present participle | enting |
| past participle | ented |
| past | ented |
Origin of ent
Learned borrowing from Old English ent (“giant”), from Proto-West Germanic *anti; introduced by J. R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings, 1954–55, as Ent. Compare Middle English *ent, eont (“giant”), inherited from the Old English word, but which apparently did not survive through the Middle English period into Modern times. Apparently survived in some German dialects as Enz (“giant”), also in composite forms. Compare ettin.
Possibly from empty, through assimilation of /m/ to the following /t/.
Words formed from ent
Words that rhyme with ent
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- repent
- ascent
- rent
- resent
- scent
- absent
- augment
- cement
- content
- extent
- fragment
- lent
- prevent
- anent
- consent
- dent
- dissent
- percent
- relent
- spent
- Tashkent
- tent
- accent
- circumvent
- convent
- discontent
- intent
- invent
- went
- %
- assent
- dement
- ferment
- foment
- gent
- Gwent
- incent
- lament
- malcontent
- reinvent
- stent
- underrepresent
- attent
- big tent
- blent
- detent
- diapertent
- djent
Questions about ent
- What does ent mean?
- Ent means a large, fictional, humanoid, walking tree in works by J. R. R. Tolkien.
- What is ent in Marathi?
- Ent in Marathi is एन्ट (enṭa). See Ent meaning in Marathi.
- How do you use ent in a sentence?
- Somewhere, ents and manitous laugh grimly For, despite all this, the trees lasted much longer Than most of the presents, and all of the holiday spirit.
- What part of speech is ent?
- Ent can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ent?
- Ent is pronounced /ɛnt/.
- What is the plural of ent?
- The plural of ent is ents.
Words near ent in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ent (page history and authors); ENT (page history and authors); Ent (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ent.wav.
Cite this entry: “ent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.