Wordwyrt

maintain

/meɪnˈteɪn/mayn-TAYN
/meɪnˈteɪn/mayn-TAYN

Meaningto hold in the hand

Common meaning: to keep up

Journey through time

  1. Latinmanu tenere‘to hold in the hand’source
  2. Frenchmaintenir‘to maintain’source
  3. Middle Englishmainteinensource
  4. Englishmeaning shiftsto hold in the hand → to keep upmaintain‘to keep up’ · today

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 manu tenere ‘to hold in the hand’.

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app