Confinement
/kənˈfaɪnmənt/noun
The state of being kept within limits or shut away; imprisonment or restricted isolation.
Did you know?Its core comes from Latin *confinis*, meaning “sharing a border” or “neighboring,” so the word began as a boundary-word before it ever became a prison word.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dheh₁-
“to set, place, put”
Latin
Latin
confinis
“bordering on, neighboring; sharing a boundary”
Late Latin
Latin
confinare
“to bound, limit, enclose”
Old French
Old French
confinement
“act of enclosing or restricting”
Middle English
English
confinement
“the act or state of being restrained or shut in”
Modern English
English
confinement
“the state of being kept within limits or restricted, especially imprisonment or seclusion”