extenuate

Origin

From Middle English extenuat (“(medicine) made thin, emaciated”), from Latin extenuātus (“diminished, reduced, thinned”), perfect passive participle of extenuō (“to diminish, reduce, thin”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex- (“out-, thoroughly”) + tenuō (“to enfeeble, weaken, wear down; to lessen, reduce; to make thin”), from tenuis (“fine, slender, thin; feeble, weak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tenh₂- (“to extend, stretch; thin”)) + -ō (first conjugation-verb forming suffix). Compare attenuate.