Entertaiment is the act of entertaining or the state of being entertained. It can involve a wide range of activities, from the amusements of an individual viewer to large-scale productions designed for many people. Many entertainments have become closely associated with amusement, although they may also be serious or symbolic.
It is not uncommon for entertainment to hit on subjects the brain was evolved to react deeply to, such as social backstabbing and murders. Entertaiment is a compound word, formed from the Medieval Latin inter-tenere, which means “to hold inside” or, more broadly, “to maintain.” The suffix -ment is used with verb stems to make nouns describing the result of an action (as in amazement, betterment, and merriment). The meaning of entertain has shifted considerably over time.