creative

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kriˈeɪ.tɪv/^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English create + -ive,^[2][3] compare Old French creatif and Medieval Latin creativus.^[3] It is related to creation and creature.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Having the quality of creating, given to creating”: 1678 in the OED and Merriam-Webster,^[4][5] the 1670s in Etymonline.^[2] The Shorter Oxford dates it from the late 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Johnson in 1755 defined it as “having the power to create” and “exerting the act of creation”.^[6] Of literature and art, “imaginative, inventive”, it is from 1816, in Wordsworth,^[2][4] and creative writing is from 1848.^[2] Creative evolution translates Bergson's L'Évolution créatrice (1907) and is from 1909.^[4] Of financial strategies, imaginative or ingenious, especially as in creative accounting, it is from 1973.^[4] The noun, a creative person, especially one who makes advertisements, is from 1962 in Merriam-Webster,^[7] and creative material in advertising from 1938 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[5]

Timeline

• 1678 – able to create.^[4][5]
• 1755 – Johnson: “having the power to create”.^[6]
• 1816 – of art, imaginative.^[2][4]
• 1848 – creative writing.^[2]
• 1909 – creative evolution.^[4]
• 1962 – noun, a creative person.^[7]
• 1973 – of accounting.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Having the ability or power to create.
2. Marked by originality and expressiveness; imaginative.
3. Productive; creating.
4. Of accounting, inventive in a way that misleads.

Noun

1. A person who shows creative originality, especially one who designs advertisements.

Word family

• creatively
• creativeness
• uncreative
• creativity

Related words

• create
• creation
• creationism
• creator
• creature

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster