Etymologically
Log in

remain

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /rɪˈmeɪn/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English remainen,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman remayn-, Old French remain-, the stressed stem of remanoir “to stay, be left”,[4][3] as in il remaint “it remains”,[4] from Latin remanēre (“to stay behind, be left; endure”),[4][3] from re- (“back”) and manēre (“to stay, remain”),[4][3] from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to remain”).[4] Hoad also allows Old French remaindre as a source.[5] The noun is partly from Old French remain and partly from the verb.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To be left after the removal of a part: about 1375 in the OED,[6] the early 15th century in Etymonline[4] and before 1425 in Barnhart.[3]

Semantic evolution

“To stay in a place” is from the 15th century, and “to continue to be” in a state from the 16th.[5] The noun meant the survivors or remainder of a number from about 1470.[6][4] Remains, “relics, what is left”, is from about 1500,[4] the remains of a dead body from about 1700,[4] and the literary works left by an author from the 1650s.[4] The usual English noun has been remainder, with remnant.[4] Old English had kennings with lāf “leavings”, such as yþlāf “leavings of the waves”, the shore.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1375 – to be left over.[6]
  • 15th century – to stay in a place.[5]
  • c. 1470 – noun, survivors.[6]
  • c. 1500 – remains, relics.[4]
  • 16th century – to continue to be.[5]
  • 1650s – an author's literary remains.[4]
  • c. 1700 – a dead body.[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To stay the same; to continue to be: remain calm.
  2. To stay in the same place, or behind.
  3. To be left after others have gone or been taken away.
  4. To be left still to be done: it remains to be seen.
  5. To endure or last.

Noun

  1. remains: what is left; relics or ruins.
  2. remains: a dead body.
  • remainder
  • remnant
  • mansion
  • manor
  • permanent
  • manse
  • menagerie

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press