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Pertain comes to English via Anglo-French from the Latin verb pertinēre, meaning "to reach to" or "to belong." Pertinēre, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix per- (meaning "through") and tenēre ("to hold"). Tenēre is a popular root in English words and often manifests with the -tain spelling that can be seen in pertain. Other descendants include abstain, contain, detain, maintain, obtain, retain, and sustain, to name a few of the more common ones. Not every -tain word has tenēre in its ancestry, though. Ascertain, attain, and certain are among the exceptions. And a few tenēre words don't follow the usual pattern: tenacious and tenure are two.
Examples of pertain in a Sentence
David Faris, Newsweek, 10 July 2024
Meanwhile, a high court decision in Fischer v. United States could affect whether Trump can still legally face two of the four charges pertaining to obstruction allegations.
—Kaelan Deese, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 1 July 2024
The court cast significant doubt on whether evidence pertaining to a former president’s official acts would be admissible in a criminal prosecution against him.
—Cameron Joseph, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 July 2024
Prior to Wednesday’s vote, SB 104 did not contain any language pertaining to bathrooms or student’s bodies.
—Samantha Riedel, Them, 28 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for pertain 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pertain.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Pertain.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pertain. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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pertain
verb
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