Other forms: attachments
An attachment is a close emotional tie — to a person, a place, an old coat you cannot throw out. It is warmer than interest and quieter than love, and it usually shows itself only when something threatens to take the thing away.
The word does three other jobs that share nothing but the idea of being joined on. An attachment to an email is the file clipped to it, and that is now the commonest use of all. An attachment on a machine is a part you fix on to make it do something else — the attachments that come with a food mixer. And in psychology, attachment is a technical term for the bond between an infant and a carer, which is where attachment theory and secure attachment come from. Note the preposition: attachment to a person, never attachment with.
1nounattachmentA close feeling of fondness or loyalty towards somebody or something.
“She has a strong attachment to the village she grew up in.”
2nounfileA file sent along with an email.
“He forgot the attachment and had to send the email twice.”
3nounextraAn extra part fixed onto a machine to make it do a particular job.
“The drill came with six attachments and a case.”
4nounpsychologyIn psychology, the bond formed between a child and the adult who cares for them.
“The study looked at attachment in the first two years.”
attachment is a connection.
French attachement comes from attacher, to fasten, and behind that is the same root as attack — both are about fixing yourself onto something, one fondly and one not. English borrowed the fastening sense first and the feeling afterwards, which is why an attachment is still, underneath, a thing tied on.
French
attachement
English, today
attachment
From French attachement. by surface analysis, attach + -ment.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA