descender

descend +‎ -er (“agent suffix”)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈsɛndə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɛndə(ɹ)

descender (plural descenders)

1. A person or thing that descends.
2. (typography) The part of a lowercase letter that is drawn below the bottom of lowercase letters, such as the tail of the letters g, p, and q.
3. (cycling) A cyclist who excels at fast descents.
4. A belay device used in rock climbing

• redescend

• decender (obsolete)

From Old Portuguese decender, borrowed from Latin dēscendere, present active infinitive of dēscendō. Compare descer, probably an inherited doublet.

descender (first-person singular present indicative descendo, 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].

• (Castilian) IPA^(key): /desθenˈdeɾ/, [d̪esθẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]
• (Latin America) IPA^(key): /dessenˈdeɾ/, [d̪essẽn̪ˈd̪eɾ]

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

1. to descend

• Rule: e becomes ie in stressed syllables.

• descendente
• descendiente

• ascender
• condescender
• descendencia
• descenso

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