maintenance

English

Etymology

From Middle English mayntenaunce, from Old French maintenance, from maintenir, from Latin manus tenēre (“to hold in the hand”). By surface analysis, maintain +‎ -ance.

Note that maintain has undergone a sound and spelling change, hence is spelt with -tain-, rather than the -ten- still found in maintenance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeɪnt(ə)nəns/, /ˈmeɪntɪnəns/, [ˈmẽɪ̃(n)ʔ(ə)nəns]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

maintenance (usually uncountable, plural maintenances)

1. Actions performed to keep some machine or system functioning or in service.
   • 2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 42:

     They are all preventable by proper maintenance, but non-safety critical maintenance has to be evaluated, so failures are an accepted penalty for keeping maintenance costs down.

2. (law) A tort and (in some jurisdictions) an offence committed when a third party who does not have a bona fide interest in a lawsuit provides help or acquires an interest to a litigant's lawsuit.
3. (law, UK) Alimony, a periodical payment or a lump sum made or ordered to be made to a spouse after a divorce.
4. (law) Child support.
5. Money required or spent to provide for the needs of a person or a family.
   • 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:

     From Pond to Pond he roamed, from moor to moor; / Housing, with God's good help, by choice or chance: / And in this way he gained an honest maintenance.

6. (biology) The natural process which keeps an organism alive.

Derived terms

• cap of maintenance
• facilities maintenance
• facility maintenance
• health maintenance organization
• high-maintenance
• low-maintenance
• maintenance-free
• maintenance hole
• maintenance margin
• maintenance window
• percussive maintenance
• postmaintenance
• premaintenance
• preventative maintenance
• telemaintenance

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ten-‎ (1 c, 60 e)

Translations

keeping a machine or system in service — see also care

• Arabic: صِيَانَة f (ṣiyāna)
• Armenian: սպասարկում (hy) (spasarkum)
• Azerbaijani: qulluq
• Bulgarian: поддръ́жка (bg) f (poddrǎ́žka)
• Catalan: manteniment (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 保養／保养 (zh) (bǎoyǎng), 維持／维持 (zh) (wéichí), 保守 (zh) (bǎoshǒu)

• Czech: údržba (cs) f, obsluha (cs) f
• Danish: vedligeholdelse c, service (da) n
• Dutch: onderhoud (nl) n, handhaving (nl) f
• Esperanto: bontenado
• Estonian: hooldus
• Finnish: kunnossapito (fi)
• French: entretien (fr) m, maintenance (fr) f
• Galician: mantemento (gl) m
• Georgian: ტექნიკური მომსახურება (ṭekniḳuri momsaxureba)
• German: Instandhaltung (de) f, Wartung (de) f
• Hungarian: szerviz (hu), karbantartás (hu)
• Icelandic: viðhald n
• Indonesian: perawatan (id), pemeliharaan (id)
• Irish: coinneáil f
• Italian: manutenzione (it) f
• Japanese: 保守 (ja) (ほしゅ, hoshu), 維持 (ja) (い​じ, iji)
• Korean: 보존(保存) (ko) (bojon), 유지(維持) (ko) (yuji)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: خزمەت (xizmet)

• Latin: tuitiō f
• Macedonian: одржување n (održuvanje)
• Malay: penyenggaraan
• Malayalam: പരിപാലനം (ml) (paripālanaṁ)
• Marathi: डागडुजी f (ḍāgḍujī), देखरेख f (dekhrekh)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vedlikehold n

  Nynorsk: vedlikehald n

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: نِگَهْداری (fa) (negahdâri)

• Polish: konserwacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: manutenção (pt) f
• Russian: обслу́живание (ru) n (obslúživanije), ремо́нт (ru) m (remónt), подде́ржка (ru) f (poddéržka)
• Scottish Gaelic: gleidheadh m, cumail suas f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: одржа́вање n

  Roman: održávanje n

• Slovak: údržba f, obsluha f
• Spanish: mantenimiento (es) m
• Swedish: underhåll (sv) n
• Tagalog: panataman
• Tajik: нигоҳдорӣ (nigohdorī)
• Turkish: bakım (tr)
• Ukrainian: обслуго́вування (uk) n (obsluhóvuvannja), ремо́нт m (remónt), до́гляд m (dóhljad), підтри́мка f (pidtrýmka)
• Vietnamese: bảo trì (vi), bảo dưỡng

tort

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 助訟／助讼 (zo⁶ zung⁶)

  Mandarin: 助訟／助讼 (zhùsòng)

• Danish: hævdelse c, forsvar n

legal: payment made to a spouse after a divorce — see alimony

child support — see child support

money to provide for the means of living

• Bulgarian: издръ́жка (bg) f (izdrǎ́žka)
• Finnish: elantokustannukset pl
• German: Unterhalt (de)
• Latin: tuitiō f
• Maori: moni oranga
• Polish: utrzymanie (pl) n
• Russian: содержа́ние (ru) n (soderžánije), подде́ржка (ru) f (poddéržka)
• Ukrainian: утри́мання n (utrýmannja)

process of keeping an organism alive

• Esperanto: bontenado
• Finnish: elintoimintojen ylläpito
• French: maintenance (fr)
• Italian: mantenimento (it)
• Portuguese: mantimento (pt)
• Spanish: mantenimiento (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} صِيَانَة f (ṣiyāna)
• Irish: cothabháil f
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} întreținere (ro) f

Further reading

• “maintenance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “maintenance”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “maintenance”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

French

Etymology

From maintenir (“to maintain”) +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛ̃t.nɑ̃s/

• Audio (Paris)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃s

Noun

maintenance f (plural maintenances)

1. maintenance

Further reading

• “maintenance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.