permissive

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French permissif (“giving permission”),^[2][3][4] formed from the past participle stem of Latin permittō (“to permit”), with the suffix -if.^[2][3] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English allow a borrowing from Medieval Latin permissivus as well,^[5][6] and Etymonline derives it from that Latin form;^[7] the OED notes that the Latin form is found in British sources from 1344.^[2] The Latin verb, the source of permit, is formed from per- (“through”) and mittō (“to let go, send”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Permitted, allowed, tolerated: 1467–8, in the Plea and Memoranda Rolls of the City of London.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the mid 15th century,^[7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 15th century,^[3] and the Oxford Dictionary of English to the late 15th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The active sense, "giving permission, allowing something to happen", is found from 1576,^[2] and grammarians used it from 1586 for a mood expressing permission.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as granting liberty, "not hindering, though not approving", with Shakespeare's "permissive pass" in Measure for Measure among his quotations;^[8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged keeps the passive "tolerated" sense as archaic, with a quotation from Milton.^[3] The modern sense, "tolerant, liberal", dates from 1946,^[2][7] and by 1966 it carried clear overtones of sexual freedom, according to Etymonline.^[7] A permissive as a noun for a tolerant person, usually derogatory, followed in 1967.^[2] Technical uses arose in physiology (1952), of a hormone necessary but not sufficient for an effect, and in virology (1962), of cells that allow viruses to replicate.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1467 – permitted, allowed, tolerated; optional.^[2][7]
• 1576 – giving permission; allowing something to happen.^[2]
• 1586 – in grammar, of a mood expressing permission.^[2]
• 1921 – of a footpath open to the public by the landowner's permission.^[2]
• 1946 – tolerant, liberal, especially in sexual matters.^[2][7]
• 1952 – in physiology, necessary but not sufficient for an effect.^[2]
• 1962 – in virology, allowing viruses to replicate.^[2]
• 1967 – noun, a permissive person.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Allowing a great deal of freedom; tolerant or lenient: Her permissive grandparents let her stay up past midnight.^[9][10][3]
2. Allowing freedom in personal and especially sexual behaviour, with little regard for traditional morals.^[9][10][2]
3. Granting or tending to grant permission.^[10][9][2]
4. (biology) Of a cell: supporting the replication of a virus.^[9][2]
5. (archaic) Permitted or tolerated; optional, not obligatory.^[3][10][2]

Noun

1. A tolerant or permissive person; an advocate of permissive attitudes (usually derogatory).^[2]

Word family

• permissively
• permissiveness
• permissivism
• unpermissive
• nonpermissive

Related words

• permit
• permission

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ 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 c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins