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por·tend (pôr-tĕnd)
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tr.v. por·tend·ed, por·tend·ing, por·tends
1. To serve as an omen or a warning of; presage: black clouds that portend a storm.
2. To indicate by prediction; forecast: leading economic indicators that portend a recession.
[Middle English portenden, from Latin portendere; see ten- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    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:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    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.

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