sens

See also: Sens, séns, and Sens.

English

Noun

sens

1. plural of sen

Anagrams

• NSSE, ENSs, -ness, ness, Ness, SNES, SE SN, ESNs

Afrikaans

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “from German?”)

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

sens (plural sense)

1. scythe

   Synonym: seis

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Valencia) [ˈsens]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈsəns]

Preposition

sens

1. Archaic form of sense (“without”).

Usage notes

• This preposition has been superseded in all dialects by the form sense. Sens is nowadays only used in poetry (for metrical reasons or for a deliberately archaizing effect), and in common set phrases: sens dubte (“without a doubt”) and sens falta (“without fail”).

Derived terms

• sens dubte
• sens falta

Further reading

• “sens” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “sens”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “sens” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “sens” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French, from Old French sens, sen, san (“sense, reason, direction”), partly borrowed from Latin sēnsus (“sense, sensation, feeling, meaning”), from sentiō (“feel, perceive”); partly from Frankish *sinn (“sense, reason, mental faculty, way, direction”) (via Vulgar Latin *sennus), from Proto-West Germanic *sinn (“mind, meaning”), particularly in the sense of "direction". Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”). Compare also French assener (“to thrust out”), forcené (“maniac”). More at send.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑ̃s/

• Audio; “le sens”:

  (file)

  • The preservation of final /s/ in this term is irregular. Formerly a pronunciation without this /s/ was possible, and is still found in the expressions sens dessus dessous and sens devant derrière.

Noun

sens m (plural sens)

1. meaning, sense

   Synonym: signification

   le sens ultime de la vie ― the ultimate meaning of life

   Les mots ont un sens. ― Words have meanings.

2. sense, sensation

   Synonyms: perception, sensation

3. sense, intelligence

   bon sens ― common sense

   Je préfère fréquenter ceux qui manquent de bon sens.

   I prefer to associate with people who lack common sense.

4. direction of circulation

   voie à sens unique ― one-way street, one-way road

   en tous sens, dans tous les sens ― in all directions

Derived terms

With this term at the beginning

• sens anti-horaire
• sens commun
• sens de l’humour
• sens des aiguilles d’une montre
• sens des réalités
• sens dessus dessous
• sens devant derrière
• sens horaire
• sens trigonométrique

 

With this term at the end

• à contresens
• à mon sens
• à sens unique
• abonder dans le sens
• avoir du sens
• bon sens
• caresser dans le sens du poil
• dans un sens
• double sens
• faire sens
• lourd de sens
• partir dans tous les sens
• sixième sens
• tomber sous le sens
• unité de sens

Related terms

• sensation
• sensualité

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑ̃/

Verb

sens

1. inflection of sentir:
   1. first/second-person singular indicative present
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “sens”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latgalian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *senas. Cognates include Latvian sens and Lithuanian senas.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsʲɛnt͡s]
• Hyphenation: sens

Adjective

sens

1. ancient

Declension

Indefinite declension of sens (type 1 adjective)

	masculine		feminine
	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	sens	seni	sena	senys, senas1)
genitive	sena	senu	senys, senas1)	senu
dative	senam	senim	senai	senom
accusative	senu	senus	senu	senys, senas1)
instrumental	senu	senim	senu	senom
locative	senā	senūs	senā	senuos
1) dialectal

Definite declension of sens (type 1 adjective)

	masculine		feminine
	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	senais, senīs	senī	senuo	senuos
genitive	senuo	senūs	senuos	senūs
dative	senajam	senajim	senajai	senajom
accusative	senū	senūs	senū	senuos
instrumental	senū	senajim	senū	senajom
locative	senajā	senajūs	senajā	senajuos

Derived terms

• senotne

 

References

• M. Bukšs, J. Placinskis (1973) Latgaļu volūdas gramatika un pareizraksteibas vōrdneica, Latgaļu izdevnīceiba, page 397

Latvian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *senas, from Proto-Indo-European *sénos (“old”). In Latvian, apparently only the adverbial form sen was conserved without interruption; in the first Latvian dictionaries, only vecs is consistently given as an adjective, whereas the occurrences of sens are few and dubious. Apparently the Latvian adjectival form of sen fell out of usage after Proto-Balto-Slavic times, and was recoined and successfully reintroduced only in the 19th century. Cognates include Lithuanian sẽnas (“old, ancient”), Sudovian sens (“old”), Old Irish sen, Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌽𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃 (sineigs) (< *sen-ei-), Sanskrit सन (sana, “old”), Ancient Greek ἕνος (hénos, “old, last year's”), Latin senex (“old in age, senior”).

Adjective

sens (definite senais, comparative senāks, superlative vissenākais, adverb sen)

1. ancient, old, of long ago (many years, centuries, ages ago; the people of such times, their institutions, culture, etc.)

   seni laiki, tāla pagatne ― ancient times, distant past

   senā Grieķija ― ancient Greece

   senā Roma ― ancient Rome

   sens rokraksts ― ancient manuscript

   sena tradīcija ― ancient tradition

   sena valoda ― ancient language

   sens darbarīks ― ancient tool

   seni augi, dzīvnieki ― ancient plants, animals

   senie latvieši ― the ancient Latvians

   senie eģiptieši ― the ancient Egyptians

   sena cilts ― ancient tribe

2. old (from relatively long ago; separated from the present by a (subjectively) significant amount of time)

   sena skolasbiedru draudzība ― an old schoolmate friendship

   sens paziņa ― an old acquaintance

   piedzīvojumu žanrs kinomākslā ir sens un pārbaudīts ― the adventure genre in film is old and tried

Declension

indefinite declension (nenoteiktā galotne) of sens

	masculine (vīriešu dzimte)			feminine (sieviešu dzimte)
	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)		singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative (nominatīvs)	sens	seni		sena	senas
accusative (akuzatīvs)	senu	senus		senu	senas
genitive (ģenitīvs)	sena	senu		senas	senu
dative (datīvs)	senam	seniem		senai	senām
instrumental (instrumentālis)	senu	seniem		senu	senām
locative (lokatīvs)	senā	senos		senā	senās
vocative (vokatīvs)	—	—		—	—

Derived terms

• senatne

Related terms

• sencis

Middle French

Alternative forms

• senz, cens

Etymology

From Old French sens.

Noun

sens m (plural sens)

1. sense (method for a living being to gather data about the world)
2. sense (ability to reason)

Descendants

• French: sens

Occitan

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Preposition

sens

1. (Gascony, Languedoc, Limousin) Alternative form of sense

Noun

sens m (plural sens)

1. (Gascony, Languedoc) sense

References

• Patric Guilhemjoan, Diccionari elementari occitan-francés francés-occitan (gascon), 2005, Orthez, per noste, 2005, →ISBN,page 124.

Old French

Alternative forms

• sen, san

Etymology

Partly borrowed from Latin sensus (“sense, sensation, feeling, meaning”), from sentiō (“feel, perceive”); partly (via Vulgar Latin *sennus) from Frankish *sinn (“sense, mental faculty, way, direction”). Both Latin and Germanic from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”). More at sens.

Noun

sens oblique singular, m (oblique plural sens, nominative singular sens, nominative plural sens)

1. reason; ability to reason or think

Synonyms

• raison

Descendants

• Middle French: sens, senz, cens
  • French: sens
• Picard: sins
• → Middle English: sense, sence, sens
  • English: sense, sence
    • → Afrikaans: sense

Old Irish

Noun

sens m

1. Alternative spelling of séns: alternative form of síans

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
sens	ṡens	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Old Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sensus. First attested in 1461–1467.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /sɛns/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /sɛns/

Noun

sens m inan

1. reason (ability to reason)
   • 1461-1467, Sermones. Rękopiśmienne ekscerpty pochodzące z rkpsu Archiwum i Biblioteki Krakowskiej Kapituły Katedralnej o sygn. 230 (dawna sygn. 1421/108 Mns) z roku 1461-1467, page 349r:

     In verbo proposito proponitur fides nostra quoad articulum resurectionis probata per sensum, doswyathczona przesz sens, rata per consensum

     [In verbo proposito proponitur fides nostra quoad articulum resurectionis probata per sensum, doświadczona przez sens, rata per consensum]

Descendants

• Polish: sens
• Silesian: sens, syns

References

• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “sens”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish sens.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛns/

• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛns/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛns
• Syllabification: sens

Noun

sens m inan

1. sense (meaning, reason, or value of something)
   • 2019, “Po prostu ze mną bądź”, in Zakochaj się we mnie, performed by Poparzeni Kawą Trzy, track 4:

     Gdy wszystko traci sens,
     Świat działa jak na złość,
     Wiatr wieje, pada deszcz,
     I życia ma się dość.
     Gdy jest widoków brak i chce się tylko klnąć.
     Na skróty przejdź przez park, po prostu ze mną bądź.

     When everything loses meaning,
     The world acts as if out of spite,
     The wind blows, the rain falls,
     And life is too much.
     When there are no prospects and all you want to do is curse.
     Take a shortcut through the park, just be with me.

2. point (purpose or objective, which makes something meaningful)

   Near-synonym: znaczenie

3. (obsolete) thought; aphorism

Declension

Declension of sens

	singular	plural
nominative	sens	sensy
genitive	sensu	sensów
dative	sensowi	sensom
accusative	sens	sensy
instrumental	sensem	sensami
locative	sensie	sensach
vocative	sensie	sensy

Derived terms

adjectives

• bez sensu
• bezsensowny

 

adverbs

• bez sensu
• bezsensownie

 

particles

• w pewnym sensie
• w sensie

 

nouns

• bezsens
• bezsensowność

 

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), sens is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 18 times in scientific texts, 1 time in news, 26 times in essays, 18 times in fiction, and 32 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 95 times, making it the 667th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Further reading

• sens in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• sens in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “sens”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• “SENS”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 24.10.2008
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “sens”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “sens”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1915), “sens”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 6, Warsaw, page 65

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French sens, Latin sensus.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

sens n (plural sensuri)

1. sense, meaning
2. reason, logic
3. direction

Sudovian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *senas, from Proto-Indo-European *sénos. Compare Lithuanian sẽnas (“old”), Latvian sȩns (“ancient”); however, Latvian vȩcs (“old”), Old Prussian urs (“old”).

Adjective

ſenſ

1. old

   Antonyms: iauniſ (“young”), nau (“new”)

   • “Pagan dialects from Narew” line 171, (copied by V. Zinov, 1983):

     stary — ſenſ

     stary — old