Wordwyrt

retainer

/ɹɪˈteɪnə/rih-TAY-nur
UK form converted from the US by rule · unchecked
/ɹɪˈteɪnɚ/rih-TAY-nur

Meaningone that retains

Common meaning: a fee to keep someone's service

Other meanings: a servant

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‘again’ + ‘to hold, keep hold of’ → retainer

Journey through time

  1. Latinretinere‘to hold back’source
  2. Frenchretenir‘to retain’source
  3. Englishretain‘to keep’
  4. Englishformed in English from retainretainer‘a fee to keep someone's service’ · 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: Formed in English from retain + -er.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), RETAIN, p.505 · scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app