contain

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kənˈteɪn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English conteinen, borrowed from Old French contenir (tonic stem contein-),^[2][3][4] from Latin continēre (“to hold together, enclose”),^[2][5] formed from con- “together” and tenēre “to hold”,^[2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[2] It is related to content, continent and tenant.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To restrain oneself or someone, to behave in a certain way: about 1300 in Etymonline and Barnhart, in Arthour and Merlin.^[2][5] Hoad dates the sense “keep within certain limits” to the 13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to have as a part” followed in the mid-14th century (1340 in the OED),^[2][6] and “to have inside, enclose”, said of a vessel or space, in the late 14th century (1382 in the OED).^[2][6] Of a measure, “to be equal to” is from 1387.^[6] In the 20th century it gained a military and political sense, to keep an enemy or a hostile power from spreading,^[7][8] which containment (1655 in Barnhart) also took.^[5][7]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to restrain, behave.^[2][5]
• 1340 – to have as a part.^[6]
• 1382 – to have inside, hold.^[6]
• 1387 – to be equal to (a measure).^[6]
• 1443 – container.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To have or hold something inside.
2. To have as a part; include.
3. To keep (feelings) under control; to restrain.
4. To stop something harmful from spreading, or an enemy force from advancing.
5. (mathematics) To be exactly divisible by.

Word family

• containable

Related words

• container
• containment
• content
• continence
• continent
• tenant

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins