digestive

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English digestif,^[2] borrowed from Old French digestif,^{[3][4][5][6][7]} also directly borrowed from Late Latin dīgestīvus (“pertaining to digestion”),^[4][5][8][6] formed from dīgestus, the past participle of dīgerō (“to separate, divide, arrange; to digest”), and -īvus.^[8][3][9] The Latin verb comes from dis- (“apart”) and gerō (“to carry”).^[4] The Anglo-Norman word, used of digestion and of an aid to digestion, is recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century.^[10] The noun came first in English, as a shortening of a French phrase meaning digestive medicine.^[4] The word is related to digest.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A medicine that aids digestion: about 1386, in Chaucer's Nun's Priest's Tale, which has the plural digestyves.^[3][11][4] Medieval surgery also used the word for a medicine that breaks down diseased matter for removal.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective is recorded from the early 15th century, of digestion and of what promotes it;^[4][2] the OED's first quotations for these senses are from 1528 and about 1533.^[3] In old surgery a digestive was also an ointment that promoted healthy suppuration in a wound (1543),^[3][8] and in alchemy an agent of chemical digestion (1477).^[3] Johnson (1755) gave the senses "having the power to cause digestion" and "capable by heat to soften".^[12] The digestive biscuit, a wholemeal biscuit, is recorded from 1876, and is often called simply a digestive in Britain.^[3][13][8] The word was also used of the digestion of insectivorous plants (Darwin, 1875).^[3] The French form digestif, for an after-dinner drink, is attested in English from 1908.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – noun, a medicine that aids digestion.^[3][11]
• early 15th century – adjective, of or promoting digestion.^[4][2]
• 1477 – an agent of chemical digestion (obsolete).^[3]
• 1543 – an ointment promoting suppuration.^[3]
• 1876 – the digestive biscuit.^[3]
• 1908 – digestif, an after-dinner drink.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or serving for digestion: the digestive tract.^[13][8][3]
2. Aiding or promoting digestion.^[8][3][13]

Noun

1. (British) A slightly sweet wholemeal biscuit; a digestive biscuit.^[13][8][3]
2. A food or drug that aids digestion.^[8][3]
3. (archaic) A substance that promotes suppuration in a wound.^[8][3]

Word family

• digestively
• digestiveness
• nondigestive
• postdigestive
• digestive system
• digestive tract

Related words

• digest
• digestion
• digestif
• gesture

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins