Etymology: Middle English had two forms: (1) entent , intent , < Old French entent intention, application < Latin intentus a stretching out, in late Latin attention, intention, < intent- , participial stem of intendĕre to intend v.; (2) entente, intente, < Old French entente intention, thought, desire, purpose, etc. < popular Latin *intenta noun from feminine of intentus past participle (analogous to nouns in -ata, etc.), from same verb. In Middle English entent appears to be more frequent, and entente disappears before 1500; but in the plural ententes, the two forms were indistinguishable, and it is not possible to separate them in sense. The form with in- is rare before 1400, while en- is rarely found after 1550. They were equally common c1500.

Etymology: < Latin intentus bent on (something), strained, attentive, earnest, eager, past participle of intendĕre to intend v.; compare Old French intent intended, attentive, assiduous. Intent and intense are etymologically doublets, intentus and intensus being two forms of the Latin participle; but already in Latin intensus was (like the simple tensus) more restricted to the physical sense ‘stretched, strained’, hence ‘intense, violent’, while intentus was extended to the notion of ‘mentally or nervously on the stretch, intent, eager, attentive’. In the modern languages this differentiation has been made more complete. So with intention, intension.

Etymology: In branch I, Middle English < Old French entente-r to intend, attempt (14th cent. in Godefroy), < Latin intentāre to stretch out towards, direct, threaten with, attack, accuse, frequentative of intendĕre to intend v. In sense 4, < French intenter (14th cent.), to institute (a legal process) = medieval Latin intentāre lītem ; in sense 5, apparently directly < Latin intentāre.