certain

See also: cèrtain

English

Etymology

From Middle English certain, certein, from Old French certain, from Vulgar Latin unattested form *certānus, extended form of Latin certus (“fixed, resolved, certain”), of the same origin as cretus, past participle of cernere (“to separate, perceive, decide”). Displaced native Middle English wis, iwis (“certain, sure”) (from Old English, ġewiss (“certain, sure”) and alternative Middle English spelling sertane (“some, certain”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːtn̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝtn̩/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝtən/, /ˈsɝtn̩/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tən
• Hyphenation: cer‧tain

Adjective

certain (comparative more certain, superlative most certain)

1. Sure, positive, not doubting.

   I was certain of my decision.

2. (obsolete) Determined; resolved.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Milton

     However, I with thee have fixed my lot, / Certain to undergo like doom.

3. Not to be doubted or denied; established as a fact.
   • Bible, Dan. ii. 45

     The dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

4. Actually existing; sure to happen; inevitable.

   Bankruptcy is the certain outcome of your constant gambling and lending.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden

     Virtue that directs our ways / Through certain dangers to uncertain praise.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare

     Death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all.

5. Unfailing; infallible.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Mead

     I have often wished that I knew as certain a remedy for any other distemper.

6. Fixed or stated; regular; determinate.
   • Bible, Ex. xvi. 4

     The people go out and gather a certain rate every day.

7. Not specifically named; indeterminate; indefinite; one or some; sometimes used independently as a noun, and meaning certain persons; see also "one".
   • Bible, Luke v. 12

     It came to pass when he was in a certain city.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Macaulay

     About everything he wrote there was a certain natural grace and decorum.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:certain

Antonyms

• (not doubting): uncertain
• (sure to happen): impossible, incidental

Derived terms

• certainly adv

Related terms

• certainty noun

Translations

sure, positive, not doubting

• Arabic: أَكِيد (ʾakīd), (said of a person) مُتَأَكِّد (mutaʾakkid)
• Armenian: հաստատուն (hy) (hastatun)
• Asturian: ciertu
• Bulgarian: сигурен (bg) (siguren), уверен (bg) (uveren)
• Catalan: cert (ca)
• Chamicuro: akachelo'ta
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 肯定 (zh) (kěndìng), 確切 (zh), 确切 (zh) (quèqiè), 一定 (zh) (yīdìng)

• Czech: jistý (cs) m
• Danish: sikker (da) c, sikkert (da) n, sikre pl
• Dutch: zeker (nl)
• Esperanto: certa
• Finnish: varma (fi)
• French: certain (fr)
• Friulian: ciert, sigûr, positîv
• Georgian: უეჭველი (ueč̣veli), უდავო (udavo)
• German: gewiss (de), sicher (de)
• Greek: βέβαιος (el) m (vévaios)
• Hungarian: biztos (hu)
• Icelandic: viss (is) m, öruggur (is) m
• Ido: certa (io)
• Irish: cinnte, dearfa, deimhin
• Istriot: sierto
• Italian: certo (it)

• Japanese: 確か (ja) (tashika), 一定 (ja) (ittei), 定か (sadaka), (+ -の -no) 特定 (ja) (tokutei)
• Khmer: ជាក់លាក់ (cheakleak)
• Korean: 어떤 (ko) (eotteon)
• Ladin: cert, cërt
• Latin: certus, fidus
• Maori: taketake
• Norwegian: sikker (no), viss (no)
• Novial: serteni
• Oriya: ନିର୍ଦ୍ଦିଷ୍ଟ (or)
• Polish: pewny (pl) m
• Portuguese: certo (pt)
• Romanian: cert (ro), anume (ro), sigur (ro)
• Russian: уве́ренный (ru) (uvérennyj), (of a fact) определённый (ru) (opredeljónnyj)
• Sardinian: certu, tzertu, tzeltu
• Scottish Gaelic: cinnteach, deimhinne
• Serbo-Croatian: sȉgūran (sh)
• Sicilian: certu
• Slovene: gotov
• Spanish: cierto (es)
• Swedish: säker (sv) c, säkert (sv) n, säkra (sv) pl
• Thai: แน่นอน (th) (nɛ̂ɛ-nɔɔn)
• Turkish: kesin (tr), emin (tr)
• Venetian: çerto, serto, certo
• Yiddish: זיכער (zikher)

not specifically named, indeterminate, indefinite

• French: certain (fr)
• German: gewiss (de)

• Ido: certena (io)
• Swahili: fulani (sw)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: certa (1), certena (2)
• Indonesian: tertentu, yakin, merasa pasti

• Telugu: నిశ్చయం (niScayam)

Determiner

certain

1. Having been determined but not specified. The quality of some particular subject or object which is known by the speaker to have been specifically singled out among similar entities of its class.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 3, in The Mirror and the Lamp^[1]:

     One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”

   Certain people are good at running.

Translations

having been determined but not specified

• Arabic: مُحَدَّد (muḥaddad)
• Belarusian: не́йкі m (njéjki)
• Bulgarian: определен (bg) (opredelen)
• Catalan: cert (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 某 (zh) (mǒu), 有的 (zh) (yǒude)

• Czech: jistý (cs) m, určitý (cs) m
• Dalmatian: ciart
• Danish: vis (da) c, vist n, visse pl
• Finnish: tietty (fi), muuan (fi)
• French: certain (fr)
• Georgian: გარკვეული (garḳveuli)
• German: bestimmt (de), gewiss (de)

• Hungarian: bizonyos (hu)
• Icelandic: ákveðinn (is) m, viss (is) m
• Japanese: ある (ja) (aru), とある (toaru)
• Latin: quīdam (la)
• Norwegian: viss (no) m, f, visst (no) n, visse (no) pl, enkelte (no)
• Portuguese: certo (pt) m
• Romanian: anumit (ro)
• Russian: не́который (ru) (nékotoryj), определённый (ru) (opredeljónnyj), не́кий (ru) (nékij)
• Serbo-Croatian: òdrēđen (sh), nȅkī
• Spanish: cierto (es) m, cierta (es) f
• Swedish: viss (sv) c, visst (sv) n, vissa (sv) pl
• Turkish: belli (tr), malum (tr), belirli (tr), muayyen (tr)
• Ukrainian: пе́вний (uk) (pévnyj), де́який (uk) (déjakyj)

Pronoun

certain

1. (with of) Unnamed or undescribed members (of).

   There where serious objections to certain of the proposals.

   • Bible, Acts xxiii. 12

     Certain of the Jews banded together.

Synonyms

• (unnamed or undescribed members (of)): some

Noun

certain pl (plural only)

1. (with "the") Something certain.
   • 2011, John Lyons, The Phantom of Chance: From Fortune to Randomness in Seventeenth-Century French Literature

     Thinking about the uncertain refines our perception of the certain, and generally this takes place in a framework in which the uncertain is the future and the certain is the present.

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923 in Project Gutenberg: often · themselves · half · #269: certain · sent · keep · myself

Further reading

• certain at OneLook Dictionary Search
• certain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• certain in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• tacrine, tercian

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French

Etymology

From Old French certain, from Vulgar Latin unattested form *certānus, extended form of Latin certus (“fixed, resolved, certain”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁ.tɛ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

certain (feminine singular certaine, masculine plural certains, feminine plural certaines)

1. certain (sure, positive)

   Il est certain qu'il viendra.

   It is certain that he will arrive.

2. certain (fixed, determined)
3. certain (specified, particular)

Noun

certain m (plural certains)

1. certain; certainty

Determiner

certain

1. certain: a determined but unspecified amount of ; some

   Certaines personnes vont aller.

   Some people are going.

Related terms

• certainement
• certitude
• incertain

Anagrams

• carient, centrai, cernait, crainte, criante, écriant, encirât, encrait

Further reading

• “certain” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Old French

Alternative forms

• (Picard dialect) chertain

Adjective

certain m (oblique and nominative feminine singular certaine)

1. certain; sure

Synonyms

• seur

Declension

Declension of certain

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Subject	certains	certaine	certain
	Oblique	certain	certaine	certain
Plural	Subject	certain	certaines	certain
	Oblique	certains	certaines	certain

Descendants

• English: certain (borrowed)
• French: certain