elective

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French electif,^[2][3][4][5] also directly borrowed from Late Latin ēlēctīvus,^[6][3][4][2] from ēlēctus (“chosen”), the past participle of ēligō (“to pick out, choose”), and the suffix -īvus.^[6][2][7] The OED regards the Latin form as a type rather than a recorded word, and notes that in English, as in the Romance languages, the passive sense "chosen" came before the active "choosing".^[5] The same Latin verb gives elect and election.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Proceeding from choice; voluntary: electif, early 15th century.^[6][4] The OED's first record is from an Act of Parliament of 1530–1, of an office filled by election,^[5] and Merriam-Webster dates that sense to about 1531.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word was soon tied to choosing by vote: an office filled by election (1530), a body that has the power to elect (1632), and a government based on election (1643).^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as exercising the power of choice, and quoted Bacon on an elective monarchy.^[9] In the 18th century chemists spoke of elective affinity, the tendency of a substance to combine with some substances rather than others.^[5][4] The sense "optional" lived on in American colleges, where an elective course or subject, chosen by the student, is recorded from 1847;^[5][6] the noun, an elective course, follows in 1850.^[2] In the 20th century medicine revived the sense for an operation that is not urgent but chosen.^[4][5] In British use an elective is also an optional placement taken by a medical student.^[10]

Timeline

• early 15th century – electif, voluntary.^[6][4]
• 1530 – of an office, filled by election.^[5]
• 1632 – having the power to elect.^[5]
• 1643 – of a government, based on election; proceeding from free choice.^[5]
• 1767 – in chemistry, acting on some substances rather than others.^[5]
• 1847 – of a course of study, chosen by the student (US).^[5][6]
• 1850 – noun, an elective course.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Chosen or filled by election: an elective office.^[10][2][5]
2. Of or based on voting: an elective system of government.^[10][2]
3. Having the power to elect.^[10][5]
4. Open to choice; optional: an elective course in Spanish.^[10][2]
5. (medicine) Of surgery, chosen by the patient or doctor rather than urgently needed.^[4][5]

Noun

1. An optional course or subject in a school or college.^[2][10]
2. (British) An optional placement taken by a medical student.^[10]

Word family

• electively
• electiveness
• nonelective
• unelective

Related words

• elect
• election

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins