tenderoni

tenderoni

English

WOTD – 14 February 2023

Etymology

Blend of tender +‎ macaroni, a former trademark in the United States for a brand of quick-cooking macaroni introduced in the 1930s.[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌtɛndəˈɹəʊni/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌtɛndəˈɹoʊni/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊni
• Hyphenation: ten‧der‧o‧ni

Noun

tenderoni (plural tenderonis)

1. (originally African-American Vernacular, slang) A younger (often female) love interest. [from 1970s]
   • 1976 September, Allan Felder (lyrics and music), “Sweet Tenderoni”, in Goin’ Up in Smoke, performed by Eddie Kendricks:

     Sweet tenderoni, a man should never be lonely / Sweet tenderoni, girl if I could only / I got my eye, I got my eye on you, ah you

   • 1983 September 19, James Ingram; Quincy Jones; Michael Jackson (lyrics and music), “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”, in Thriller, performed by Michael Jackson:

     Tenderoni, you've got to be / Spark my nature, sugar, fly with me

   • 1988 December 27, Babyface; Darnell Bristol (lyrics and music), “Roni”, in Don’t Be Cruel, performed by Bobby Brown:

     Only tenderonis can give a special love / A special kind of love that makes you feel good inside

   • 2008 June, Nina Tracy, “Prologue: Lonely?”, in Twenty-Eight Days, West Babylon, N.Y.: Urban Soul, →ISBN, page 3:

     I must admit to having been somewhat taken back by the question posed to me by the young tenderoni. "Are you desperately lonely?" he had asked a few minutes after we had pulled up in front of his dwelling, after having shared an intimate spell together and then grabbing a fast-food combo.

Translations

younger (often female) love interest

Finnish: nuorempi (fi) Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

See also

• jailbait

References

1. Compare Jonathon Green (2005), “tenderoni”, in Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, 2nd edition, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, OCLC 978-0-304-36636-1, page 1423, column 1.

Further reading

• Tenderoni on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tenderoni (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• internode, nondieter, nontiered, trendione