Etymologically
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addictive

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Pronunciation

  • /əˈdɪktɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English addict + -ive,[2][3][4][5][6] the verb addict coming from Latin addīctus (“assigned by decree, made over, devoted”), the past participle of addīcō (“to assign, make over, award”),[2][3] from ad- (“to”) and dīcō (“to say”),[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *deik- (“to show; to pronounce solemnly”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a drug or other substance, able to cause addiction or dependence: 1891, in the Medico-legal Journal.[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1815, in chemistry and medicine, and the narcotics sense to 1939;[3] Dictionary.com gives 1935–40 and the Shorter Oxford the mid-20th century.[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb addict meant from the 1530s to devote or give oneself up to a habit or occupation,[3] and the noun addict, a person given over to a practice, appeared in 1909, first of morphine.[3] The noun addictiveness is recorded before the adjective, in 1827, in the sense of addiction.[2] From 1923 addictive was also used of the addiction itself or of people prone to it.[2] From 1962 it was extended to anything that creates a dependence likened to addiction, such as a pastime.[2]

Timeline

  • 1827 – addictiveness, addiction.[2]
  • 1891 – able to cause addiction or dependence.[2][4]
  • 1923 – relating to, or prone to, addiction.[2]
  • 1939 – the narcotics sense, according to Etymonline.[3]
  • 1962 – extended use, compulsive.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Causing addiction or dependence: Nicotine is a strongly addictive substance.[7][4][2][5]
  2. Of, relating to or prone to addiction.[7][2][4]
  3. So engaging or enjoyable that it is hard to stop: an addictive puzzle game.[2]

Word family

  • addictiveness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins