purgative

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English purgatif, also purgative,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French purgatif (“that causes purgation, laxative”)^[4][3][5] and directly borrowed from Late Latin purgātīvus (“that causes purgation”),^[4][6][2] recorded from the 5th century.^[4] The Late Latin adjective is formed from Latin pūrgāt-, the past participial stem of pūrgō (“to cleanse, purify”), the source of purge, and the suffix -īvus.^[4][6] The French word is dated to 1372 in a medical context by the OED and to the 14th century by Etymonline,^[4][6] but the Anglo-Norman adjective is recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century.^[7] The noun follows Medieval Latin purgātīvum (“purgative medicine”), found in a British source of the 13th century.^[4] The same Latin adjective gave Spanish purgativo, Portuguese purgativo and Italian purgativo.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having the property of cleansing the body by expelling impure matter, a medical sense: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[4][2][6] Merriam-Webster gives the 15th century as the first date.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word began in medicine, and the noun, a medicine that empties the bowels, followed about 1425 in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie.^[4][6] The Old English medical texts had used clænsungdrenc for such a medicine.^[6] From 1489, in Caxton, the adjective was also applied to cleansing of a moral or spiritual kind, and in theology it named the first stage of spiritual advancement.^[4] The noun followed in 1625, for something that takes away sin or evil.^[4] A use meaning "of purgatory" was short-lived and rare.^[4][8] Johnson (1755) knew only the bodily sense, defining the adjective as "cathartick".^[9] The medical sense has since narrowed: the Shorter Oxford notes that the word now means only strongly laxative.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1398 – causing the body to expel impure matter.^[4][2]
• c. 1425 – noun, a purging medicine.^[4][6]
• 1489 – serving to cleanse morally or spiritually.^[4]
• 1593 – of or relating to purgatory (now obsolete).^[4]
• 1625 – noun, something that purifies, especially from sin.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Causing the bowels to empty; strongly laxative or cathartic: a purgative tea of dried herbs.^[10][4][8]
2. Cleansing or purifying, especially from sin: a purgative period of fasting.^[3][4][8]
3. Clearing a person of legal fault or guilt.^[3]
4. (obsolete) Of or relating to purgatory.^[4][8]

Noun

1. A medicine that purges, especially a strong laxative.^[10][3][4]
2. Something that purifies, especially morally or spiritually.^[4][8]

Word family

• purgatively
• nonpurgative

Related words

• purge
• purgation
• purgatory
• compurgation

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins