Etymologically
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contain

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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
  • 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