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A state of the southeast United States. It was admitted as the 16th state in 1796. Visited by the Spanish in 1540, the region was explored by Daniel Boone in 1769 and became part of the United States in 1783. The short-lived state of Franklin (1784-1788) formed the basis for the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio (1790) and the later state of Tennessee. Nashville is the capital and Memphis the largest city.
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.