Where does “detention” come from?
Detention comes from Middle French détention, from Latin detentio, a noun formed from the prefix de- and the root ten- meaning to hold, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ten-.
detention (English): The act of detaining or the state of being...
Definitions
- The act of detaining or the state of being...
Ancestry of “detention”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | détention | — |
| 2 | Old French | detencion | — |
| 3 | Latin | detentio | detention |
| 4 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 5 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 6 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 7 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 8 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 9 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 10 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 11 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |