attain
/əˈteɪn/uh-TAYN
/əˈteɪn/uh-TAYN
Meaningto touch upon
Common meaning: to reach
- atto, towardsSkeat, Concise Etymological Dictionary (1911), p. 30 · scan
- tainto touchLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1840 · scan
‘to, towards’ + ‘to touch’ → attain
Journey through time
- at — Latin ad- “to, towards” (path traced)
- tain — Latin tangō, tetigī, tāctum “to touch” (path traced)
Parts join in Latin as attingere.
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin attingere, which Skeat (Concise Dictionary, 1911) analyses as ad- ‘to, towards’ + tangere ‘to touch’.
Roots
- attingere Latin “to touch upon”
- tangō, tetigī, tāctum Latin “to touch”
Related words
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