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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 among the exceptions. And a few tenēre words don't follow the usual pattern: tenacious and tenure are two.
Examples of pertain in a Sentence
Quentin Thane Singer, Forbes, 27 Sep. 2024
Isabella’s leadership was further demonstrated this past spring when she was chosen to talk to members of Congress in Washington, D.C., about a bill pertaining to AED access for the American Heart Association.
—Gege Reed, The Courier-Journal, 20 Sep. 2024
Some key headwinds pertaining to wafer fab equipment (WFE) spending could hurt shares of Applied Materials and Lam Research , according to Mizuho.
—Pia Singh,fred Imbert, CNBC, 20 Sep. 2024
According to court documents, her attorneys cited the 1993 Hague Convention, which pertains in part to international parental child abduction, to make their case.
—Alexandra Del Rosario, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2024
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“Pertain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pertain. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.
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pertain
verb
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