appertain

English

Etymology

From Middle English apperteinen, apertenen, borrowed from Old French apartenir (French appartenir), from Late Latin appertinēre, from ad (“to”) + Latin pertinēre (“to reach to, belong”). More at pertain.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /æpɚˈteɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn

Verb

appertain (third-person singular simple present appertains, present participle appertaining, simple past and past participle appertained)

1. To belong to or be a part of, whether by right, nature, appointment, or custom; to relate to.
   • 2023 October 8, HarryBlank, “Taking the Lead”, in SCP Foundation‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 May 2024:

     McInnis reached down and gently raised the old man's head to face him. "Edwin Falkirk, I hereby relieve you of the Directorship of Site-43 under my authority as Administrator of the SCP Foundation. Your security clearance credentials will be revoked in full, and all privileges appertaining to your position are rescinded."

2. To belong as a part, right, possession, attribute, etc.
   • 1551, James A.H. Murray, editor, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society.‎^[2], volume 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1888, Part 1, page 217:

     Also the rule of false position, with dyuers examples not onely vulgar, but some appertaynyng to the rule of Algeber.

   • 1886, Arthur Conan Doyle, “On the Great Alkali Plain”, in A Study in Scarlet‎^[3], New York: D. Appleton and Company, published 1902, The Country of the Saints, page 115:

     In this great stretch of country there is no sign of life, nor of anything appertaining to life. There is no bird in the steel-blue heaven, no movement upon the dull, grey earth—above all, there is absolute silence. Listen as one may, there is no shadow of a sound in all that mighty wilderness; nothing but silence—complete and heart-subduing silence.

Usage notes

• Appertain is followed by to (or formerly by unto, as in the King James Version of the Bible and in the plays of Shakespeare, although to is used in these works as well).

Synonyms

• pertain

Antonyms

• be irrelevant

Derived terms

• appertainment
• unappertaining

 

Related terms

• appurtenance
• pertain
• pertinence
• pertinent

 

Translations

to belong to or be a part of, whether by right, nature, appointment, or custom; to relate to

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} принадлежа (bg) (prinadleža), ^{(please verify)} отнасям се към (otnasjam se kǎm)
• French: appartenir (fr)
• Hungarian: tartozik (hu)
• Portuguese: pertencer a
• Russian: принадлежа́ть (ru) (prinadležátʹ), относи́ться (ru) (otnosítʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian: pripadati (sh), odnositi se