
It also provides words like "merry-making", "pleasure", "delight", as well as "to receive as a guest and show hospitality to". The Oxford English Dictionary gives Latin and French origins for the word "entertain", including inter (among) + tenir (to hold) as derivations, giving translations of "to hold mutually" or "to hold intertwined" and "to engage, keep occupied, the attention thoughts or time (of a person)".

In the same way, other activities, such as cooking, have developed into performances among professionals, staged as global competitions and then broadcast for entertainment. Activities such as fencing or archery, once used in hunting or war, have become spectator sports. Some entertainment, such as public executions, are now illegal in most countries. Festivals devoted to music, film, or dance allow audiences to be entertained over a number of consecutive days. Films and video games, for example, although they use newer media, continue to tell stories, present drama, and play music. Most forms of entertainment have persisted over many centuries, evolving due to changes in culture, technology, and fashion for example with stage magic.

Entertainment can be public or private, involving formal, scripted performance, as in the case of theatre or concerts or unscripted and spontaneous, as in the case of children's games.

The audience may have a passive role, as in the case of persons watching a play, opera, television show, or film or the audience role may be active, as in the case of games, where the participant/audience roles may be routinely reversed. Hence, there is the possibility that what appears as entertainment may also be a means of achieving insight or intellectual growth.Īn important aspect of entertainment is the audience, which turns a private recreation or leisure activity into entertainment. This may be the case in the various forms of ceremony, celebration, religious festival, or satire for example. The experience of being entertained has come to be strongly associated with amusement, so that one common understanding of the idea is fun and laughter, although many entertainments have a serious purpose. Entertainment evolves and can be adapted to suit any scale, ranging from an individual who chooses a private entertainment from a now enormous array of pre-recorded products to a banquet adapted for two to any size or type of party, with appropriate music and dance to performances intended for thousands and even for a global audience. The process has been accelerated in modern times by an entertainment industry that records and sells entertainment products. Storytelling, music, drama, dance, and different kinds of performance exist in all cultures, were supported in royal courts, developed into sophisticated forms and over time became available to all citizens.

It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousands of years specifically for the purpose of keeping an audience's attention.Īlthough people's attention is held by different things because individuals have different preferences, most forms of entertainment are recognisable and familiar. 420 BCE)īanqueting and music have continued to be two important entertainments since ancient times.Įntertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. Banqueters playing Kottabos and girl playing the aulos.
