qualitative

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin quālitātīvus (“concerned with quality”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which the OED records from the 6th century and frequently from the 12th in British sources;^[2] Etymonline, Klein, the AHD and the MED call it Medieval Latin.^{[2][7][8][9][10]} It is formed from quālitās (“quality”) and -īvus.^[2][3] Etymonline notes that quālitās is said to have been coined by Cicero to translate Ancient Greek ποιότης (poiótēs), and derives it from quālis (“of what kind”), from Proto-Indo-European *kwo-.^[7] The first, medical use was qualitatif;^[10][7] Etymonline thinks the later sense came from French qualitatif or the Latin word.^[7] The OED compares Spanish cualitativo (1493) and Italian qualitativo (1353), and notes that quantitative is older in English.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of medicines, supplying one of the four primary qualities: probably before 1425, in a Middle English translation of Guy de Chauliac.^[10][7] The OED's first record is from 1607, in a sermon by Samuel Collins.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English word belonged to medieval medicine, where drugs were classed by the qualities (hot, cold, moist, dry) they supplied.^[10] The modern sense, "of or relating to quality", dates from about 1600,^[7][2][3] and in later use the word was often paired against quantitative.^[2][3][11] In chemistry qualitative analysis identifies which constituents a substance contains, as against how much of each.^[5] Grammars from 1872 speak of a qualitative adjective, one that names a quality and can be compared.^[2] In West African English it has meant "of high quality, excellent" since the 1970s.^[2]

Timeline

• probably before 1425 – of medicines, supplying a primary quality.^[10]
• 1607 – of or relating to quality.^[2][3]
• 1872 – grammar, of an adjective naming a quality.^[2]
• 1976 – West African English, of high quality.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or involving quality or kind rather than amount; contrasted with quantitative: The survey gave us qualitative evidence about the users' habits.^[3][11][2]
2. Chemistry: of analysis that identifies the constituents of a substance.^[5]
3. Grammar: of an adjective that describes a quality and has comparative and superlative forms.^[2]
4. (West African English) Of high quality; excellent.^[2]

Word family

• qualitatively
• nonqualitative
• qualitative analysis

Related words

• quality
• quantitative
• qualify

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 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. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c 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 e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d e 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)
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins