iterative

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French iteratif,^[2][3] modern French itératif, recorded from 1403,^[4][3] and in its grammatical sense directly borrowed from Late Latin iterātīvus (“frequentative”).^[5][6][2] Late Latin used the word only as a noun, iterātīvum, short for an iterative verb.^[4] It was formed from Latin iterātus, the past participle of iterō (“to do again, repeat”),^[4][2][7] from iterum (“again”),^[8][7] which Klein explains as a comparative formation from the pronominal base Proto-Indo-European *i-.^[7][8] The same verb gave iterate and iteration.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Characterized by repeating or by being repeated: 1490, in Caxton's translation of the Eneydos.^[4] Etymonline dates it to the late 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

For more than three centuries the word only meant "repeated, repetitious".^[4] In 1827 a grammar of Russian used it for verbs that express repeated action, the iterative aspect of the Slavic verb, a sense that had come through Late Latin, where iterativum meant a frequentative verb.^[4][5] A noun followed for such a word or aspect (from 1839 in Etymonline, from 1853 in the OED).^[3][4] In the 20th century mathematics took it up for procedures built on iteration, the repeated application of an operation, recorded from 1924;^[4][5] Collins gives it as another word for recursive in mathematics and logic.^[9]

Timeline

• 1490 – characterized by repetition.^[4]
• 1827 – in grammar, expressing repeated action; of an aspect of the Slavic verb.^[4]
• 1839 – noun, a word expressing repeated action.^[3] The OED dates this sense to 1934.^[4]
• 1853 – noun, an iterative verb or aspect.^[4]
• 1924 – in mathematics, of the nature of or employing iteration.^[4][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Involving or marked by repetition; repeated or repetitious: an iterative design process.^[2][9][4]
2. (mathematics) Of, using or produced by iteration, the repeated application of an operation; recursive: an iterative method for finding a square root.^[4][9][5]
3. (grammar) Expressing the repetition of an action; frequentative.^[2][9][4]

Noun

1. (grammar) A word, verb form or aspect that expresses repeated action.^[2][4]

Word family

• iteratively
• iterativeness

Related words

• iterate
• iteration
• reiterate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins