Entertaining

How to spell entertaining

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce entertaining

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does entertaining mean?

1. adjectiveHolding the attention in an enjoyable or amusing way.
2. verbPresent participle of entertain: providing amusement for, or hosting, guests.

Entertaining in a sentence

• adjective

  The speaker gave an entertaining talk that kept everyone laughing.

• verb

  They were entertaining clients at the restaurant all evening.

• adjective

  The documentary was both informative and entertaining.

• verb

  The clown was busy entertaining the children at the party.

Where does entertaining come from?

Language of origin: French

This word grew out of the verb 'entertain', which English borrowed from the Old French entretenir in the late 1400s. The French verb was built from Latin inter, meaning 'among' or 'between', and tenere, meaning 'to hold', so its literal sense was 'to hold together' or 'to keep in a certain state'. Its earliest English meanings were practical rather than fun: to maintain something, to keep a household, or to keep a guest in your company. From the idea of keeping guests pleasantly occupied came the modern sense of amusing or diverting people, and from there the adjective 'entertaining' for anything that holds your interest agreeably. The same Latin tenere sits inside relatives like 'maintain', 'retain', and 'contain', and the steady 'tain' spelling in all of them is a useful anchor against the unstressed middle vowels that trip writers up.

How the word is built

• enter- (from Latin inter: among, between)
• tain (from Latin tenere: to hold)
• -ing (adjective/present-participle suffix)