Etymologically
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entertain

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˌɛntəˈteɪn/ (UK); /ˌɛntɚˈteɪn/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English entertinen, borrowed from Middle French entretenir (“to hold together, maintain”),[2][3][4] from entre- (“among, mutually”) and tenir (“to hold”),[3][5][6] from Latin inter (“among”) and teneō (“to hold”),[2][7] from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To keep up or maintain something, a state or practice: about 1452, in the Paston Letters;[4] Barnhart dates entertienen, to maintain, to about 1475, in Caxton.[3]

Semantic evolution

Its early senses were maintaining: keeping something in working order (1477), keeping someone in a certain state of mind (1490), supporting with money (1559) and keeping in one's service (1549).[4][8] Receiving someone as a guest is from 1490, also in Caxton.[4][3] Holding the attention of, amusing, is from 1626,[3][5] and admitting an idea into the mind, considering it, from the 16th century.[5][8] Hoad dates entertainment as a meal or amusement to the 17th century, and as a public performance to the 18th.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1452 – to maintain, keep up.[4]
  • 1490 – to receive as a guest.[4][3]
  • 1531 – entertainment.[3]
  • 1626 – to amuse.[3]
  • 1693 – to host guests (intransitive).[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To provide amusement or enjoyment for someone.
  2. To receive someone as a guest; to show hospitality.
  3. To consider or hold in the mind: to entertain an idea.
  4. (archaic) To keep up or maintain.

Word family

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press