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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
Michael James Rocha, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Nov. 2025
Anyone with information pertaining to the house fire or the traffic stop is asked to contact Det.
—Jillian Ellison, IndyStar, 28 Nov. 2025
On the bright side, expectations have been low all season from Vikings fans pertaining to the quarterback position.
—Reice Shipley, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2025
In court filings pertaining to Hudson's custody issues with her ex-husband Thomas Hudson, Thomas said the 16-year-old may be a suspect in his stepsister's death.
—Samira Asma-Sadeque, PEOPLE, 26 Nov. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Pertain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pertain. Accessed 3 Dec. 2025.
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pertain
verb
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