Whether it’s the clown at your kid’s birthday party, the Broadway show you saw last night, or the stadium rock concert you just attended, entertaiment is the stuff that holds our attention and distracts us from the things that we don’t care about. It comes from the Latin intertenere, with the prefix “inside” and the suffix “hold inside.” The word has evolved to incorporate ideas about how to entertain, as well as what types of entertainment we prefer. But it also refers to how entertainment transforms into something new for different people and groups. That transformation is part of what makes the concept so versatile.