affectionate

Etymology

It is probably partly borrowed from Medieval Latin affectiōnātus (“inclined, disposed, well disposed”), recorded in British sources from about 1350,^[2][3] and partly formed from English affection + -ate,^[2][4][3] probably after Middle French affectionné (“having affection for”), the past participle of affectionner (“to have affection for”).^[2][3][4] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English give the French word the sense "beloved".^[5][6] The Latin adjective is built on Latin affectiō (“disposition, affection”),^[2][3] a noun from afficiō (“to act on, influence”),^[6][4] which is formed from ad- (“to”) and faciō (“to make, do”).^[4] Dictionary.com sees affection with the suffix on the model of passionate.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Affected or influenced in the mind; disposed or inclined to something: about 1487, in John Skelton's translation of Diodorus Siculus.^[2] The Oxford Dictionary of English also gives "disposed, inclined towards" as the late 15th-century sense,^[6] while Etymonline dates the word only from the 1580s.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first followed the senses of affection as "state of mind, inclination":^[2] besides "disposed" it meant favourably inclined (from before 1516), biased or prejudiced (1530–1611), passionate and headstrong (1534–1791) and eager or ambitious (1598–1750), all now obsolete.^[2][3][4] The sense "loving, fond", of a person or animal, appears in 1569, and of a thing, such as a look or a letter, in 1576;^[2] it is the only one left.^[3][8] Johnson (1755) still listed "warm, zealous" and "strongly inclined to" before "fond, tender".^[9] Other words were used in the same sense for a while, such as affectual (early 15th century) and affectuous (mid 15th century).^[4] A verb affectionate, to feel affection for, is recorded from 1565 but is now obsolete.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1487 – disposed, inclined to something (obsolete by 1657).^[2]
• before 1516 – favourably inclined (obsolete by 1761).^[2]
• 1530 – biased, prejudiced (obsolete by 1611).^[2]
• 1534 – passionate, self-willed (obsolete by 1791).^[2]
• 1565 – verb, to feel affection for (obsolete).^[2]
• 1569 – of a person or animal, loving, fond; also at the close of letters.^[2]
• 1576 – of a thing, expressing affection.^[2]
• 1598 – eager, earnest (obsolete by 1750).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Feeling or showing fondness and warm affection; loving: Their old dog is very affectionate with children.^[8][3][2]
2. Expressing affection: an affectionate note from her grandson.^[8][2]
3. (obsolete) Biased, prejudiced (1530–1611).^[2][3]
4. (obsolete) Passionate, headstrong (1534–1791).^[2][3]

Word family

• affectionately
• affectionateness
• pseudoaffectionate
• unaffectionate

Related words

• affect
• affectation
• affective
• affection

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 o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.