positivity

Etymology

It is formed from English positive + -ity.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The OED compares the slightly earlier positiveness.^[3] The adjective positive is from Old French positif and Latin positīvus (“settled by agreement, positive”), from positus, the past participle of pōnō (“to put, place”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality or fact of being positive, in its various senses: 1659, in the title of a work by H. Hickman.^[3][4] Etymonline dates it to the 1650s and Dictionary.com to 1650–60.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In 1681 the word was also used for a positive or real thing, as opposed to a mere negation, a sense the OED marks as rare and obsolete.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "peremptoriness; confidence" and called it "a low word", quoting Watts.^[7] Wiktionary records the current senses of optimism, of a positive result, and of a positive electric charge,^[1] and compounds such as positivity rate, the share of those tested for a disease who test positive, and body positivity.^[1]

Timeline

• 1659 – the quality or fact of being positive; positiveness.^[3][4]
• 1681 – a positive or real thing, an actuality (obsolete, rare).^[3]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as peremptoriness or confidence, calling it a low word.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being positive; positiveness.^[4][8][3]
2. A positive, optimistic attitude: Her positivity kept the team going through the long season.^[1]
3. Something that is positive, such as a positive test result.^[8][4][1]
4. (physics, chemistry) The property of having a positive electric charge.^[1]

Related words

• positive
• positiveness
• positivism
• position

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster