tenant

Etymology 1

From Middle English tenaunt, from Anglo-Norman tenaunt and Old French tenant, present participle of tenir (“to hold”), from Latin tenēre, present active infinitive of teneō (“hold, keep”).

noun

1. One who holds a lease (a tenancy).
   Long even before the last tenant had occupied it, the room had been regarded with fear and aversion, and the end of that last tenant had in no way lightened the gloom that hung about the place. a. 1945, Arthur Morrison, The Thing in the Upper Room
   You are just a tenant here, you say / Living in and out of this life / As cheaply as you can 1982, “The Sitting Room”, in The Sitting Room, performed by Anne Clark
2. (by extension) One who has possession of any place.
   c. 1782-1783, William Cowper, Joy in Martyrdom sweet tenants of this grove
   the happy tenant of your shade 1647, Abraham Cowley, The Wish
3. (computing) Any of a number of customers serviced through the same instance of an application.
   multi-tenant hosting
4. (chiefly historical) One who holds a feudal tenure in real property.
5. (property law, by extension) One who owns real estate other than via allodial title.

verb

1. To hold as, or be, a tenant.
2. (transitive) To inhabit.
   They lived in palatial residences[…]their harems tenanted by numerous women[…] 1922, Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 235

Etymology 2

Possibly just a modification of tenet, but note obsolete tenent (“tenet”).

noun

1. Misconstruction of tenet