Etymologically
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commemorative

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /kəˈmem(ə)rətɪv/, /kəˈmemeɪətɪv/[1]
  • US: /kəˈmem(ə)rət̬ɪv/, /kəˈmemeɪət̬ɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English commemorate + -ive,[2][3] and the OED compares French commémoratif.[2] Merriam-Webster instead takes it straight from the French adjective, a Middle French formation from commémoration (from Latin commemorātiō) and -if,[4] while Dictionary.com analyses it as commemoration with -ive.[5] The base verb, recorded from the 1590s, comes from Latin commemorātus, the past participle of commemorō (“to bring to remembrance, remind”),[3][6][4] from com-, here perhaps intensive, and memorō (“to remind, mention”),[3][6] from memor (“mindful”),[3][6][4] from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to remember”).[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Serving to commemorate: 1612, in a work by T. Taylor.[2][4] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s.[3]

Semantic evolution

The construction commemorative of follows in 1651, in Hobbes's Leviathan.[2] Johnson (1755) defined the word as tending to preserve the memory of anything, quoting Atterbury on the Paschal lamb as commemorative of the first Paschal lamb.[7] The noun, a means of commemoration, is recorded from 1636 but stayed rare;[2][3] its modern use is collectors' shorthand for a commemorative postage stamp, from 1916,[3] and for a commemorative coin.[4][6] The American Heritage Dictionary defines such coins and stamps as issued in limited numbers for a set period to honour an event or anniversary.[6]

Timeline

  • 1612 – serving to commemorate.[2][4]
  • 1636 – noun, a means of commemoration.[2][3]
  • 1651 – commemorative of, serving to recall something.[2]
  • 1916 – noun, a commemorative postage stamp.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Serving to honour or keep alive the memory of a person or event: A commemorative plaque was unveiled on the old bridge.[4][6][2]
  2. Of coins and postage stamps: issued for a limited time to mark a particular event or anniversary.[6][4]

Noun

  1. Something that commemorates.[6][4][2]
  2. A commemorative coin or postage stamp: Her album is mostly commemoratives from the 1950s.[6][4]

Word family

  • commemoratively
  • commemorativeness
  • noncommemorative

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.