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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
Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 14 Dec. 2025
Reporters determined the spending pertained to the governor’s campaign against the amendments using a number of factors, including emails between the state and advertising firms, and the size and timing of the contracts.
—Miami Herald, 12 Dec. 2025
Graf was also asked to clarify specifics of a previous order pertaining to publicity surrounding the case.
—CBS News, 11 Dec. 2025
None of the details pertaining to the outside backing of Paramount’s offer were included in the company’s original release.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 8 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pertain
Cite this Entry
“Pertain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pertain. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
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pertain
verb
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