-ive
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Anglo-Norman -if (feminine -ive), from Latin -ivus. Until the fourteenth century all Middle English loanwords from Anglo-Norman ended in -if (compare actif, natif, sensitif, pensif etc.), and under the influence of literary Neolatin both languages introduced the form -ive. Those forms that have not been replaced were subsequently changed to end in -y (compare hasty, from hastif, jolly, from jolif etc.).
Like the Latin suffix -io (genitive -ionis), Latin suffix -ivus is appended to the perfect passive participle to form an adjective of action.
PronunciationEdit
SuffixEdit
-ive
- An adjective suffix signifying relating or belonging to, of the nature of, tending to; as affirmative, active, conclusive, corrective, diminutive.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
adjectival suffix: of the nature of; tending to
ReferencesEdit
- -ive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- Miller, D. Gary (2006) Latin Suffixal Derivatives in English and Their Indo-European Ancestry, Oxford University Press, page 204
AnagramsEdit
LatinEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
SuffixEdit
-ive
- Alternative form of -yf
ReferencesEdit
- “-i(e, (suf.5)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 20 June 2018.
- “-if, -ive (suf.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 20 June 2018.