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passive

Etymology and origin of the English word passive

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1385
Borrowed from
Old French passif
Ultimate origin
Latin (passivus)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpæs.ɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English, borrowed from Old French passif (“suffering, undergoing hardship”) and directly from Latin passīvus, capable of feeling or suffering,[2][3][4] from pass-, the past participle stem of patī, to suffer (see passion, patient).[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Producing upset, of disease, about 1385 in Usk;[3] of matter, capable of being acted upon, and in grammar, the passive voice, the late 14th century (1388–98).[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Suffering, exposed to suffering, is from about 1400 and obsolete.[6] Acted upon from without, as opposed to acting, is from 1413,[6] and not active or operating from 1477.[6] Submitting without resistance is from 1626.[6] In Scots law a passive title is under a liability (1576–77).[6][4] Passive resistance is attested in 1819, in Scott's Ivanhoe, and was re-coined by Gandhi about 1906 in South Africa;[2] passive-aggressive is by 1971.[2] Passivity is from 1659.[3] A passive solar heating system, using no external power, is a modern sense.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1385 – producing upset.[3]
  • 1388 – the passive voice.[6]
  • 1413 – acted upon.[6]
  • 1626 – submissive.[6]
  • 1819 – passive resistance.[2]
  • 1971 – passive-aggressive.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Accepting or submitting without resistance; submissive.
  2. Receiving an action without responding or acting in return.
  3. Not taking part or operating; inactive.
  4. (grammar) Of a verb form whose subject receives the action, as was broken.
  5. Of a solar heating or cooling system, using no external power.

Noun

  1. (grammar) The passive voice, or a verb in it.

Word family

  • passively
  • passiveness
  • passivity
  • passivate
  • passivism
  • unpassive
  • passive-aggressive
  • passive immunity

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Passive.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/passive. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·