Etymograph

English

attain

Attain comes from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- ‘to grasp’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teh₂g-1‘to grasp’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEattingere1
  3. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*attangere1reconstructed
  4. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400ataindre1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500atteinen1
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1513attain1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English attain
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1513, Thomas More, The History of King Richard the Thirde (Vnfinished) […]: “[K]ing Edwarde [IV] returned, and wͭ much leſſe nũber…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teh₂g-Wiktionary, English attain‘to grasp’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEattingereWiktionary, English attain
  3. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*attangereWiktionary, English attainreconstructed
  4. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400ataindreWiktionary, English attain
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500atteinenWiktionary, English attain
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1513attainWiktionary, English attain. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1513, Thomas More, The History of King Richard the Thirde (Vnfinished) […]: “[K]ing Edwarde [IV] returned, and wͭ much leſſe nũber…”

The story

The verb is derived from Middle English atteinen, atteynen (‘to achieve, attain; to be adequate or sufficient; to affect; to come or get to (a place), reach; to corrupt, taint; to overcome, overpower; to overtake; to succeed; to tamper with; (law) to bring to justice, punish’), from ataign-, a stem of Anglo-Norman ataindre, and Old French ataindre, attaindre (‘to reach’) (modern French atteindre), from Vulgar Latin *attangere, from Latin attingere, the present active infinitive of attingō (‘to come into contact with, touch; to affect; to arrive at, reach; etc.’), from ad- (prefix indicating a nearing or reaching) (appearing as at- due to assimilation with the following t, inducing gemination) + tangō (‘to grasp, touch; to arrive at, reach; to attain; etc.’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (‘to grasp; to touch’)).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- ‘to grasp’

contact, taste, integrity, contingent, tangible, integrate, tame, taxis, contiguous, tangent, tactile, taxonomy, contagion, tact, talon, tama, contaminate, talus, thwack, ataxia, 30 more

Today it means

verb To come to or reach (a place) by motion or progression.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “attain”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- / attain

Shirt and support for this word