tendon

American  

[ten-duhn] / ˈtɛn dən /

noun

• tendons
  plural

1. Anatomy. a cord or band of dense, tough, inelastic, white, fibrous tissue, serving to connect a muscle with a bone or part; sinew.

2. a reinforcing strand in prestressed concrete.

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tendon British  

/ ˈtɛndən /

noun

1. a cord or band of white inelastic collagenous tissue that attaches a muscle to a bone or some other part; sinew

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tendon Scientific  

/ tĕn′dən /

1. A band of tough, fibrous, inelastic tissue that connects a muscle to a bone. Tendons are made chiefly of collagen.

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tendon Cultural  

1. A tough band of fibrous connective tissue that connects muscles to bones.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tendons
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tendon

1535–45; < Medieval Latin tendōn- (stem of tendō ) < Greek ténōn sinew (spelling with -d- by association with Latin tendere to stretch)

Compare meaning

How does tendon compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• aponeurosis vs. tendon
• tendon vs. ligament

Explanation

If you feel the back of your ankle, you will find the tough, ropelike tendon that joins your calf muscle to your heel bone. That's the job of tendons throughout your body: connecting bone and muscle so you can move. Consider that the Latin word tendere means "to stretch." That's an apt beginning for the word tendon, a tough but stretchy fibrous tissue (sinew). A tendon is made of dense bundles of fibrous collagen that form ropelike connectors that allow muscles and bones to work together. Athletes often suffer injuries to tendons, most often to the rotator cuff in the shoulder, the Achilles tendon in the leg, the patellar tendon in the knee, and the biceps muscle in the arm.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tendon tendons

“Whether it’s your bone, whether it’s your muscle, whether it’s your tendon, you have to challenge yourself every day with different things.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

“If you’re training plyometrics, you’re training the explosivity of your tendons, and that’s bulletproofing whatever joint that tendon is attached to — the tendons in your foot or ankle or hip,” Altman says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

So, on Sept. 25, 1974, Jobe took a tendon from John’s right arm, threaded it through holes he had drilled in John’s left elbow and hoped it all would work.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

She had to undergo surgery after rupturing her Achilles tendon on her take-off leg and so, rather than competing in Paris ended up commentating for the BBC.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

They say that the tendon didn’t detach again, that it didn’t sever or snap like a rubber band pulled too far.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

The cornea contains large amounts of collagen, a structural protein also found in skin, cartilage, tendons, and other tissues.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026

The 24-year-old is still learning how to manage the anomaly, which allows her to continue running when one of the tendons is torn but may also make her more susceptible to breakdowns.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

“If you’re training plyometrics, you’re training the explosivity of your tendons, and that’s bulletproofing whatever joint that tendon is attached to — the tendons in your foot or ankle or hip,” Altman says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

The unnatural act of throwing a baseball still tears tendons and wrenches elbows.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

The tendons in his neck stand out like taut cables.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

Related Words

• hamstring
• ligament
• sinew
• tissue