means Soft, gentle, or easily damaged; or to formally offer something (like payment or a bid); or a vehicle or vessel that serves a larger one, including the coal car of a steam train.

from Two separate words wearing the same coat. The 'gentle/soft' tender comes from Old French 'tendre' and ultimately Latin 'tener,' meaning delicate or young — a cousin of 'tendril' and the Italian 'tenero.' The 'offer' tender comes from a different Latin root, 'tendere,' to stretch or hold out (think of extending your hand with payment), which also gives us 'tend' and 'attend.' The railway and nautical 'tender' is simply something that tends — that attends to and serves — the bigger thing beside it.