entertainer

Etymology

It is formed from English entertain + -er.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb is from Middle French entretenir (“to support, maintain”),^[2][7] from entre- (“among, between”), from Latin inter, and tenir (“to hold”), from teneō, from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[3] The OED compares entreteneur, a person or thing that keeps up a state of things (15th century), which was apparently obsolete after the 16th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who receives guests, especially for a meal; a host: 1525, in Lord Berners's translation of Froissart's Chronicles.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun followed the senses of entertain, which first meant to keep up or maintain, then to receive a guest, and only in the 1620s to amuse.^[3][7] The early entertainer was a host, or one who harbours an idea or opinion (1591), and briefly a maintainer of some condition (1602–06).^[2] The sense "one who amuses others" is recorded from 1593,^[2] and Johnson (1755) listed "he that pleases, diverts, or amuses" third, after one who keeps others in his service and one who treats others at his table.^[6] In later use it came to mean especially a professional performer;^[2][4] Etymonline dates "public performer" to the 1530s.^[3] From 1673 it was also used of a thing that amuses, such as an entertaining book or film.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1525 – a host who receives guests.^[2]
• 1591 – one who entertains an idea or opinion.^[2]
• 1593 – one who amuses others.^[2]
• 1594 – a receiver or container of something (obsolete by 1662).^[2]
• 1602 – one who keeps up a condition (obsolete by 1606).^[2]
• 1673 – something that amuses.^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson: "he that pleases, diverts, or amuses".^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who entertains an audience, especially a professional singer, comedian or other performer: The cruise ship hired a magician and two other entertainers.^[9][8][5]
2. Any person who entertains, especially a host who often gives parties or dinners.^[9][5][2]
3. Something that entertains, such as an amusing book or film.^[8][2]
4. A person who considers or holds an idea or opinion.^[2]

Related words

• entertain
• entertainment
• maintain
• tenant
• contain

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins