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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
Mychael Schnell, The Hill, 6 Apr. 2025
The actual letter wasn’t disclosed, with the city again asserting that the records pertained to personnel matters.
—Alex Brizee, Idaho Statesman, 2 Apr. 2025
Waltz himself used Gmail to send information pertaining to his schedule and work documents.
—Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 2 Apr. 2025
The recall, which was initiated on March 17, pertains to Red Shell Teriyaki Sauce.
—Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 13 Apr. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Pertain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pertain. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.
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pertain
verb
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