Where does “retain” come from?
Retain comes from Old French retenir, from Vulgar Latin retenire, from Latin retinere, combining the prefix re- with tenere meaning to hold.
retain (English): To keep in possession or use; To keep in one's...
Definitions
- To keep in possession or use; To keep in one's...
Ancestry of “retain”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | reteinen | — |
| 2 | Middle French | retenir | to keep; to retain |
| 3 | Old French | retenir | to keep; to retain |
| 4 | Latin | retinīre | — |
| 5 | Latin | retinēre | — |
| 6 | Latin | rĕ- | — |
| 7 | Latin | prōdūcō | — |
| 8 | Latin | prō- | — |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | *pro- | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | pro- | toward, forward |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | por- | to give birth; forward, through; going, passage |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | per- | before, in front; first; to go through |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | pr̥tós | passed , crossed |
Words derived from “retain”