English

Noun

ens ‎(plural enses or entia)

1. (philosophy) An entity or being; an existing thing, as opposed to a quality or attribute.
   • 1860, John Henry Macmahon, A treatise on metaphysics: chiefly in reference to revealed religion, page 195:

     the Nature of the Supreme Ens

2. (chemistry, alchemy, now historical) Something supposed to condense within itself all the virtues and qualities of a substance from which it is extracted; an essence, an active principle.
   • 2006, Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor, Arrow 2007, p. 245:

     Here he states that there are five ‘active principles’ – the five Enses or entia – that influence our bodies and give rise to disease […].

Etymology 2

Inflected forms.

Noun

ens

1. plural of en

Anagrams

• ESN, NES, Sen, Sen., sen, SNe

Catalan

Pronoun

ens ‎(proclitic, enclitic nos, contracted enclitic 'ns)

1. us (direct or indirect object)

Declension

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse eins, from Middle Low German eines.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eːns/, [eːˀns]

Adjective

ens

1. identical
2. alike

Pronoun

ens

1. genitive of en

Latin

Etymology

Formed in Medieval Latin (and therefore unknown in the Classical period) by analogy with the Ancient Greek present participle ὤν, thereby using the bare present participle ending -ens of second and third conjugation verbs. The present participle morpheme -sens present in the verbs absum (absens) and praesum (praesens) was ignored. See also essentia for a similar formation.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ens/, [ẽːs]

Noun

ēns n ‎(genitive entis); third declension

1. being
   • 13th c., Boetius of Dacia

     Ens autem aeternum nullum sequitur in duratione; ergo mundus non est aeternus. - Nothing follows the Eternal Being (God) in duration; therefore, the world isn't eternal.

Descendants

• Italian: ente
• Portuguese: ente
• Spanish: ente

Participle

ēns m, f, n ‎(genitive entis); third declension

1. being

Declension

Third declension neuter.

Derived terms

• entitās (Mediaeval Latin)

References

• ens in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ENS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “ens”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.

Middle French

Etymology

Old French.

Preposition

ens

1. in; inside

Old French

Alternative forms

• enz

Etymology

From en + les.

Preposition

ens

1. in; inside

Synonyms

• dedens

Swedish

Adverb

ens

1. even

Derived terms

• inte ens
• med ens

Noun

ens

1. indefinite genitive singular of en

Pronoun

ens

1. genitive of the indefinite pronoun "man"; one's

Declension