maintenir
French, verb/mɛ̃t.niʁ/
maintenir is spelled M-A-I-N-T-E-N-I-R (9 letters) and appears 37 times per million words in written French, the 2,223rd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Maintenir is a French verb meaning “to maintain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Tenir ferme et fixe”.
What does maintenir mean in English?
verb
- 1
to maintain
- 2
to stick to
- 3
to stay fair
- 4
to persist
- 5
to keep up
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Tenir ferme et fixe. 2. Conserver dans le même état. 3. Affirmer ; soutenir. 4. Assurer la maintenance.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of maintenir
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- maintenant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- maintenu participle past
- maintiens first-person indicative present
- maintient indicative present singular
- maintenons first-person indicative plural
- maintenez indicative plural present
- maintiennent indicative plural present
- maintenais first-person imperfect indicative
- maintenait imperfect indicative singular
- maintenions first-person imperfect indicative
- mainteniez imperfect indicative plural
- maintenaient imperfect indicative plural
- maintins first-person historic indicative
- maintint historic indicative past
- maintînmes first-person historic indicative
- maintîntes historic indicative past
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce maintenir?
- /mɛ̃t.niʁ/
- \mɛ̃t.niʁ\
- \mɛ̃.tə.niʁ\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to maintenir
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is maintenir in French?
maintenir appears 37 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).