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Pertain comes to English via Anglo-French from the Latin verb pertinēre, meaning "to reach to" or "to belong." Pertinēre, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix per- (meaning "through") and tenēre ("to hold"). Tenēre is a popular root in English words and often manifests with the -tain spelling that can be seen in pertain. Other descendants include abstain, contain, detain, maintain, obtain, retain, and sustain, to name a few of the more common ones. Not every -tain word has tenēre in its ancestry, though. Ascertain, attain, and certain are certainly exceptions. And a few tenēre words don't follow the usual pattern: tenacious and tenure are two.
Examples of pertain in a Sentence
Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 25 Apr. 2025
Charges pertaining to the fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, were brought in January of this year.
—Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 23 Apr. 2025
Vacuuming Only in One Direction As for vacuuming mistakes that pertain to technique, cleaning pros say the biggest one is vacuuming in just one direction.
—Maria Sabella, Better Homes & Gardens, 18 Apr. 2025
Ambiguous Loss: Mourning the Intangible Unlike tangible losses, ambiguous loss pertains to the grief experienced over intangible elements—such as trust, identity, or a sense of belonging.
—Jason Walker Psyd, Forbes.com, 17 Apr. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Pertain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pertain. Accessed 7 May. 2025.
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pertain
verb
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