tersus

Latin

Etymology 1

Perfect passive participle of tergō (“I rub, wipe off, clean”).

Participle

tersus (feminine tersa, neuter tersum); first/second-declension participle

1. clean, neat, rubbed or wiped (off), cleansed, having been cleansed
2. (figuratively) pure, correct, nice, terse, spruce, neat

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	tersus	tersa	tersum		tersī	tersae	tersa
Genitive	tersī	tersae	tersī		tersōrum	tersārum	tersōrum
Dative	tersō		tersō		tersīs
Accusative	tersum	tersam	tersum		tersōs	tersās	tersa
Ablative	tersō	tersā	tersō		tersīs
Vocative	terse	tersa	tersum		tersī	tersae	tersa

Descendants

• English: terse
• Italian: terso
• Old French: ters
• Portuguese: terso
• Spanish: terso

Etymology 2

From tergō (“I rub, wipe off, clean”).

Noun

tersus m (genitive tersūs); fourth declension

1. a wiping off, cleansing

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	tersus	tersūs
Genitive	tersūs	tersuum
Dative	tersuī	tersibus
Accusative	tersum	tersūs
Ablative	tersū	tersibus
Vocative	tersus	tersūs

References

• “tersus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tersus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• tersus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.