optative

English

Alternative forms

• (abbreviation, grammar): opt.

Etymology

From Middle French optatif, from Late Latin optātīvus, a calque of Ancient Greek εὐκτική (euktikḗ, “related to wishing”), from Latin optātus, past participle of optāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒptətɪv/, /ɒpˈteɪtɪv/
• Hyphenation: op‧ta‧tive
• Rhymes: -eɪtɪv

Adjective

optative (not comparable)

1. Expressing a wish or a choice.
   • a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, OCLC 418859860:

     an optative blessing

   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, Back Bay, 2006. page 64.

     ... then, in the optative retirement from hard science that building and opening a U.S.T.A-accredited and pedagogically experimental tennis academy apparently represented for him ...

2. (grammar) Related or pertaining to the optative mood.

Translations

expressing a wish

• Greek:

  Ancient: εὐκτικός (euktikós)

pertaining to the optative mood

• Bulgarian: желателен (bg) (želatelen)
• Esperanto: optativo (eo)
• Greek:

  Ancient: εὐκτικός (euktikós)

• Hungarian: óhajtó
• Italian: ottativo (it)

Noun

optative (plural optatives)

1. (grammar) A mood of verbs found in some languages (e.g. Sanskrit, Old Prussian, Ancient Greek), used to express a wish. English does not have inflectional optative forms.
2. (grammar) A verb or expression in the optative mood.

Derived terms

• optatively

Translations

optative

• Esperanto: optativo (eo)
• Finnish: optatiivi (fi)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Optativ (de)
• Greek: ευκτική (el) f (efktikí)

  Ancient: εὐκτική f (euktikḗ)

• Hungarian: optativus, óhajtó mód

• Icelandic: óskháttur m
• Italian: ottativo (it) m
• Old English: ġewȳsċendlīċ
• Portuguese: optativo (pt) m
• Spanish: optativo m
• Swedish: optativ c

See also

• subjunctive

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French

Adjective

optative

1. feminine singular of optatif

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Latin

Adjective

optātīve

1. vocative masculine singular of optātīvus