The story
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
- Proto-Italic*kom
- Proto-Italic*kom-
- Latincon-
- Proto-Indo-European*ten-
- Proto-Indo-European*tn̥eh₁yéti
- Proto-Italic*tenēō
- Latinteneō
- Latincontineō
- Latincontinēre
- Old Frenchcontenir
- Middle Englishconteinen
- English todaycontain
From Middle English conteinen, borrowed from Old French contenir, from Latin continēre (“to hold or keep together, comprise, contain”), combined form of con- (“together”) + teneō (“to hold”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.