different between descendants vs entail

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??s?nd?nts/
• Hyphenation: des?cen?dants

Noun

descendants

1. plural of descendant

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?.s??.d??/

Noun

descendants m

1. plural of descendant

English

Alternative forms

• intail (archaic)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?te?l/, /?n?te?l/, /?n?te?l/
• Rhymes: -e?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English entaillen, from Old French entaillier, entailler (“to notch”, literally “to cut in”); from prefix en- + tailler (“to cut”), from Late Latin taliare, from Latin talea. Compare late Latin feudum talliatum (“a fee entailed, i.e., curtailed or limited”).

Verb

entail (third-person singular simple present entails, present participle entailing, simple past and past participle entailed)

1. (transitive) To imply or require.

   This activity will entail careful attention to detail.

2. (transitive) To settle or fix inalienably on a person or thing, or on a person and his descendants or a certain line of descendants; -- said especially of an estate; to bestow as a heritage.
   • 1754-1762, David Hume, The History of England

     Allowing them to entail their estates.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To appoint hereditary possessor.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To cut or carve in an ornamental way.

Derived terms

• entailment

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English entaille (“carving”), from Old French entaille (“incision”), from the verb entailler. See above.

Noun

entail (plural entails)

1. That which is entailed. Hence:
   1. An estate in fee entailed, or limited in descent to a particular class of issue.
   2. The rule by which the descent is fixed.
   • 1754-1762, David Hume, The History of England

     A power of breaking the ancient entails, and of alienating their estates.

2. (obsolete) Delicately carved ornamental work; intaglio.

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Latine, Ta-lien, Talien