Maintained

How to spell maintained

10 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce maintained

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does maintained mean?

1. verbKept something in good condition, or kept a state or activity going over time.
2. verbStated firmly that something was true, even when challenged.

Maintained in a sentence

• The council maintained the local roads carefully throughout the winter.

• The witness maintained that she had seen nothing unusual that night.

• She maintained her composure during the difficult meeting.

• He maintained his innocence throughout the entire trial.

Where does maintained come from?

Language of origin: French

This word descends from the Old French maintenir, meaning 'to hold in the hand' and so 'to keep up' or 'support', which itself came from the Medieval Latin phrase manu tenere, literally 'to hold by the hand' (from manus 'hand' and tenere 'to hold'). English borrowed the verb in the 1200s, at first in the sense of upholding a cause or defending someone, and only later did it broaden to the everyday meaning of keeping something in good repair or in a steady condition. The tenere root is a busy one in English, surfacing in relatives such as 'contain', 'retain', 'tenant', and 'tenure', all of which share the idea of holding. The spelling trap sits in the first syllable, where the 'ai' of 'main' is easily slipped to a plain 'e' or reversed; remembering the 'hand' (manu) behind 'main' helps fix the vowel. The simple -ed ending is added without any change to the base, so 'maintain' becomes 'maintained' cleanly.

How the word is built

• main- (from Latin manu, 'by hand')
• -tain (from tenere, 'to hold')
• -ed (past tense suffix)