attainment

Etymology

It is formed from English attain + -ment,^[2][3][4] and the OED compares Old French ataignement, modern atteignement;^[2] Etymonline takes it from the French word.^[5] Dictionary.com gives a Middle English form attenement and dates it 1350–1400.^[4] The verb comes from Old French ataindre (“to come up to, reach”), with the stem ataign-,^[2][5][3] from Latin attingō (“to touch on, reach”), formed from ad- (“to”) and tangō (“to touch”).^[2][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Encroachment, a sense now obsolete: about 1503, in a translation of the Charter of London.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The first, short-lived sense "encroachment" came from a sense of the verb attain.^[2] The lasting meaning, the action of reaching or acquiring something by effort, is recorded from 1549, in the Book of Common Prayer;^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1540s and Merriam-Webster to 1543.^[5][6] From 1665, in Glanvill, it also meant the thing reached or acquired, especially a personal accomplishment,^[2][5][3] and Johnson (1755) gave this sense first, with Glanvill's quotation.^[7] Carlyle used it more abstractly in 1834.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1503 – encroachment (obsolete).^[2]
• 1549 – the action of attaining or reaching by effort.^[2] Etymonline dates this to the 1540s and Merriam-Webster to 1543.^[5][6]
• 1665 – something attained, especially a personal accomplishment.^[2][3] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1670s.^[5]
• 1834 – attainment in the abstract, in Carlyle.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of attaining something, or the fact of having attained it; achievement: Attainment of the target took longer than planned.^[8][6][2]
2. Something attained, especially a skill or accomplishment: a scholar of remarkable attainments.^[6][2][3]

Word family

• nonattainment
• reattainment

Related words

• attain
• attainable
• tangent
• tangible
• contact

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins