ens

slat. ens, zu slat. Mittelwort von lat. esse 'sein'.

Etymology

Formed as a present participle of sum (“to be”) in Medieval Latin (and therefore unknown in the Classical period) by using the bare present participial ending -ēns of second and third conjugation verbs, as an analogy to the Ancient Greek present participle ὤν (ṓn) which falsely appears to be the same bare suffix but etymologically corresponds to sōns, both from *h₁es- (“to be”). See also essentia for a similar formation.

The original present participle sōns had taken on the meaning "guilty" in the Classical period, but the still productive combining form -sēns present in the verbs absum (absēns (“absent”)) and praesum (praesēns (“present”)) was ignored in creating this form.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ens/, [ẽːs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ens/, [ɛns]

Noun

ēns n (genitive entis); third declension

(Medieval Latin) being [ quotations ▼]
essence
existence

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ēns	entia
Genitive	entis	entium
Dative	entī	entibus
Accusative	ēns	entia
Ablative	entī	entibus
Vocative	ēns	entia

Descendants

Albanian: ent
Italian: ente
Portuguese: ente
Spanish: ente

Participle

ēns (genitive entis); third-declension one-termination participle

being

Declension

Third-declension participle.

Case / Gender	Masc./Fem.	Neuter	Masc./Fem.	Neuter
Number	Singular		Plural
Nominative	ēns		entēs	entia
Genitive	entis		entium
Dative	entī		entibus
Accusative	entem	ēns	entēs entīs	entia
Ablative	ente entī¹		entibus
Vocative	ēns		entēs	entia

¹When used purely as an adjective.

Derived terms

entitās (Mediaeval Latin)