descender

descend +‎ -er (“agent suffix”)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈsɛndə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Berkshire, UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛndə(ɹ)

descender (plural descenders)

1. A person or thing that descends.
2. (typography) The part of a letter or number that is drawn below the baseline (the bottom of most lowercase letters).
3. (cycling) A cyclist who excels at fast descents.
4. (climbing) A belay device used in rock climbing, or as a fire escape.

• (typography): tail

• redescend

• decender (obsolete)

From Old Portuguese decender, borrowed from Latin dēscendere. Compare descer, probably an inherited doublet.

descender (first-person singular present descendo, first-person singular preterite descendi, past participle descendido)

1. (intransitive) to descend (to pass from a higher to a lower place)
2. (genealogy, with de) to descend (from) (to have as an ancestor)
3. (etymology, with de) to descend (from) (to have as an etymon)

• (to go down): descer, baixar

• ascender
• condescender
• descendente

From Old Spanish decender, decendir, borrowed from Latin dēscendō, dēscendere. Compare also the Old Spanish form deçir, which was likely inherited from the same source[1].

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /desθenˈdeɾ/ [d̪es.θẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /desenˈdeɾ/ [d̪e.sẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]

• Audio (Colombia)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: des‧cen‧der

descender (first-person singular present desciendo, first-person singular preterite descendí, past participle descendido)

1. to descend

• descendente
• descendiente
• descendimiento

• ascender
• condescender
• descendencia
• descenso

• “descender”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014