-ive | Meaning Of Suffix -ive By Etymonline

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Origin and history of -ive

-ive

word-forming element making adjectives from verbs, meaning "pertaining to, tending to; doing, serving to do," in some cases from Old French -if, but usually directly from Latin adjectival suffix -ivus (source also of Italian and Spanish -ivo). In some words borrowed from French at an early date it has been reduced to -y (as in hasty, tardy).

Entries linking to -ive

hasty(adj.)

mid-14c., "early; demanding haste, urgent; quick-tempered, angry;" late 14c. "speedy, swift, quick," by 1500s, from haste (n.) + -y (2); replacing or nativizing earlier hastif (c. 1300) "eager, impetuous," from Old French hastif "speedy, rapid; forward, advanced; rash, impetuous" (12c., Modern French hâtif), from haste (see haste (n.)). Meaning "requiring haste" is late 14c. (this is the sense in hasty-pudding, 1590s, so called because it was made quickly); that of "eager, rash" is from early 15c. Related: Hastiness. Old French also had a form hasti (for loss of terminal -f, compare joli/jolif, etc.), which may have influenced the form of the English word.

tardy(adj.)

late 15c., "slow, moving with a slow pace or motion," from Old French tardif "slow, late" (12c.), also the name of the snail character in the Roman de Renart, from Vulgar Latin *tardivus, from Latin tardus "slow, sluggish; late; dull, stupid," a word of unknown origin; de Vaan gives it "no etymology."

The meaning "late, not acting or happening until after the proper or expected time" in English is from 1660s.

This word, not much used in English prose, is constantly employed in the U.S. and in Canada with reference to lateness in school-attendance. [Thornton, "American Glossary," 1912]

Related: Tardily; tardiness. Earlier forms of the word in English were tardif, tardyve (late 15c.). Modern tardive "characterized by laxness; tending to be late," 1905, is said to be a new borrowing from French. Seventeenth-century English lexicons (Blount. Coles, Cockeram) have tardiloquent "speaking slowly, drawling."

• abrasive
• accumulative
• acquisitive
• adaptive
• addictive
• adjudicative
• affricative
• aggressive
• allative
• alliterative
• allusive
• amative
• ameliorative
• appositive
• appreciative
• argumentative
• assertive
• assimilative
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aggressive1791, "characterized by aggression, tending to make the first attack," with -ive + Latin aggress-, past-participle stem of aggredi "to approach; to attempt; to attack," from ad "to" (see ad-) + gradi (past participle gressus) "to step," from gradus "a step," figuratively "a step argumentativemid-15c., "pertaining to arguments," from Old French argumentatif "able to argue or reason well," or directly from Medieval Latin argumentat-, past-participle stem of argumentari "adduce proof, draw a conclusion," from argumentum (see argument) + -ive. The meaning "fond of arguinfrequentativeFrequentive is considered incorrect, because -ive adjectives are normally formed on the Latin past participle....beadmid-14c., bede, "prayer bead," from Old English gebed "prayer," with intensive or collective prefix *ge- + Proto-Germanic *bidam "entreaty." This reconstructed word is also the source of Middle Dutch bede, Old High German beta, German bitte, Gothic bida "prayer, request," which aillusionmid-14c., "mockery, scorning, derision;" late 14c., "act of deception; deceptive appearance, apparition; delusion of the mind," from Old French illusion "a mocking, deceit, deception" (12c.), from Latin illusionem (nominative illusio) "a mocking, jesting, jeering; irony," from pasurreptitious"fraudulent, done by stealth or without legitimate authority," mid-15c., surrepticious, from Latin surrepticius "stolen, furtive, clandestine," from surreptus, past participle of surripere, "seize secretly, take away, steal, plagiarize," from assimilated form of sub "from under" scissors"pair of shears of medium or small size," late 14c., sisoures, also cisours, sesours, cisurs, etc., from Old French cisoires (plural) "shears," from Vulgar Latin *cisoria (plural) "cutting instrument," from *cisus (in compounds such as Latin excisus, past participle of excidere "slang1756, "special vocabulary of tramps or thieves" or any set of persons of low character, later "jargon of a particular profession" (1801). The sense of "very informal language characterized by vividness and novelty" is by 1818. Anatoly Liberman writes here an extensive account of companymid-12c., "large group of people," from Old French compagnie "society, friendship, intimacy; body of soldiers" (12c.), from Late Latin companio, literally "bread fellow, messmate," from Latin com "with, together" (see com-) + panis "bread," from PIE root *pa- "to feed." AbbreviatbathOld English bæð "an immersing of the body in water, mud, etc.," also "a quantity of water, etc., for bathing," from Proto-Germanic *badan (source also of Old Frisian beth, Old Saxon bath, Old Norse bað, Middle Dutch bat, German Bad), from PIE root *bhē- "to warm" + *-thuz, German

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‘cite’Page URL:https://www.etymonline.com/word/-iveCopyHTML Link:<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ive">Etymology of -ive by etymonline</a>CopyAPA Style:Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of -ive. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved January 2, 2026, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/-iveCopyChicago Style:Harper Douglas, "Etymology of -ive," Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed January 2, 2026, https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ive.CopyMLA Style:Harper, Douglas. "Etymology of -ive." Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ive. Accessed 2 January, 2026.CopyIEEE Style:D. Harper. "Etymology of -ive." Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/-ive (accessed January 2, 2026).CopyRemove AdsAdvertisement

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