-ive

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English -if, also -ive and -yf,^[2][3] partly borrowed from Old French -if (feminine -ive) and partly directly borrowed from Latin -īvus.^[4][5][6][2] Merriam-Webster relates the Latin suffix to an assumed Greek form that gave Ancient Greek -εῖος (-eîos).^[2] It is related to Italian -ivo and Spanish -ivo.^[4][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Latin the suffix went mainly on past participial stems, as in āctīvus and nātīvus (“of inborn kind”), and less often on present stems, as in cadīvus (“falling”), or on nouns, as in tempestīvus (“seasonable”).^[4][3] Few of these came down in Old French, one exception being Old French naïf from nātīvus.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Romance languages and English took the suffix up again to adapt Latin words in -īvus and to form new ones on their model.^[4] Because of their origin, most such words end in -sive or -tive, and about half of those in -ative, which then began to behave as a living suffix in its own right, as in talkative.^[4][6] A few go straight on a verb stem, especially one ending in s or t (conducive, adaptive), and a few go on nouns (massive).^[4][6][3] Latin already used many of these adjectives as nouns (captīvus), and English followed, with adjective, explosive and sedative.^[4][3] In some early French borrowings the final consonant was lost, leaving -y in hasty, jolly and tardy.^[4][5][6]

Timeline

• Middle English – -if, -yf, in borrowings from French.^[3][2]

Meanings

Suffix

1. Forming adjectives that mean having a tendency to do something, or serving to do it: decisive, explorative.^[8][2][5]
2. Forming adjectives that mean of the nature or character of something: festive, massive.^[8][7][4]
3. Forming nouns for a person or thing that does something or has such a quality: detective, directive.^[8][2][7]

Word family

• active
• captive
• massive
• native
• passive
• relative

Related words

• -ative
• -y

Usage notes

Adverbs from these adjectives end in -ively, and abstract nouns in -iveness and -ivity.^[4] The -ive of costive is not this suffix, according to the OED.^[4] Words with the suffix are stressed on the syllable before it (expensive) or the one before that (executive).^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press