La Tène

[French la ten]

adjective

Archaeology. designating the period or culture of the late Iron Age typified by the structural remains, swords, tools, utensils, etc., found at La Tène.Compare Hallstattan.

noun

a shallow area at the E end of the Lake of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, where these remains were found.

Origin of La Tène

First recorded in 1885–90

-tene

a combining form meaning “ribbon,” used in biology to form compound nouns that refer to the shape or number of chromosomes involved in meiosis: leptotene; pachytene; diplotene.

Origin of -tene

< French -tène (in scientific compounds) < Latin taenia taenia

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for tene

Historical Examples of tene

Muchel sotschipe hit is leosen for an dei; tene oer tweolue.
Selections from early Middle English, 1130-1250
Various
I marvelled what tidings they could be, that were tene (grief) to the King, and blisfulhed (happiness) to the Queen.
In Convent Walls
Emily Sarah Holt
Me tene mucho mucho big guns, bastante poquito mismo bastante, cutlass, pistols mucho bastante.
The Captive in Patagonia
Benjamin Franklin Bourne

British Dictionary definitions for tene

La Tène

adjective

of or relating to a Celtic culture in Europe from about the 5th to the 1st centuries bc, characterized by a distinctive type of curvilinear decorationSee also Hallstatt

Word Origin for La Tène

C20: from La Tène, a part of Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland, where remains of this culture were first discovered

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012