English
entertainment
Entertainment comes from Middle English entretenement ‘support, maintenance’, from Old French entretenement.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400entretenement
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘support, maintenance’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600entertainment
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400entretenement
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘support, maintenance’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600entertainment
Earliest quotation: c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It: “I prithee, shepherd, if that love or gold Can…”
Formed from entertain + -ment
Old French entretenir ‘to support one another’
Middle French entretenir ‘to maintain’
Middle English entertenen
English entertain
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ten- ‘to stretch, extend’
continue, tight, content, tone, ton, tune, tennis, continuous, maintenance, obtain, contain, retain, continent, tender, detention, sustain, retention, tonic, tenant, pristine, rein, continuum, tenor, tendon, abstinence, tenacity, tenacious, sustenance, detain, pertinent, tenet, abstain, tetanus, countenance, incontinence, retinue, tantra, tenement, abstention, pertain, 72 more
Today it means
noun An activity designed to give pleasure, enjoyment, diversion, amusement, or relaxation to an audience, no matter whether the audience participates passively as in watching opera or a movie, or actively as in games.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French entretenement / entertainment