detainee

Etymology

It is formed from English detain + -ee.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares détenu, a detained person, recorded in English from 1803; in French it is the noun use of détenu (“detained”), the past participle of détenir (“to detain”).^[2][4] Detain is from Old French detenir (“to hold off, keep back”), from Latin dētineō (“to hold off, keep back”), formed from dē- (“from, away”) and teneō (“to hold”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person held in legal custody: 1914, according to Etymonline.^[3] The OED's first quotation is from 1928, in Weseen's Crowell's Dictionary of English Grammar;^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the word to about 1928 and Dictionary.com to 1925–30.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The OED defines a detainee as someone held in custody, usually on political grounds and in an emergency, without trial or while awaiting one,^[2] and Merriam-Webster gives an enemy alien as a typical case.^[6] The Oxford dictionaries of English still add "especially for political reasons",^[7][8] while the American Heritage Dictionary defines it more broadly as anyone held in custody or confinement.^[9]

Timeline

• 1914 – a person held in custody.^[3] The OED's first quotation is from 1928.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person held in custody or confinement, especially for political reasons and often without trial: The detainees were released after six months.^[2][7][6][9]

Related words

• detain
• détenu

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt