Etymology

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Today it means: An item in which objects, materials or data can be stored or transported. Full definition →

Middle English conteiner ← Old French contenir ← Latin continēre
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Italic*kom
  4. Proto-Italic*kom-
  5. Latincon-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*ten-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*tn̥eh₁yéti
  8. Proto-Italic*tenēō
  9. Latinteneō
  10. Latincontineō
  11. Latincontinēre
  12. Old Frenchcontenir
  13. Middle Englishconteinen
  14. Middle Englishconteiner
  15. English todaycontainer

From Middle English conteiner, equivalent to contain + -er.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.