Etymologically
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quantitative

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈkwɒntətɪv/, /ˈkwɑn.tɪˌteɪ.tɪv/[1]
  • UK: /ˈkwɒntɪtətɪv/[1]
  • US: /ˈkwɑn.təˌteɪ.tɪv/, /ˈkwɑn.əˌteɪ.tɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin quantitātīvus (“relating to quantity”),[2][3][4][5] often found in British sources from the 13th century,[2] formed from Latin quantitās (“quantity”) and the suffix -īvus.[2][6][5] The Latin noun is from quantus (“how great”),[3][7] and is the source of quantity.[4][8] The OED compares Middle French quantitatif, recorded from 1586 but rare before the early 19th century.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having physical quantity or spatial extent, chiefly in philosophy and theology: before 1513, in John Ireland's Meroure of Wyssdome.[2] Etymonline, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com date the word to the 1580s (1581 in Merriam-Webster).[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

From the philosophical sense "having quantity", now rare,[2][7] the word came to mean measurable or quantifiable (1610) and then concerned with the measurement of quantity (1625).[2] Etymonline dates "measurable" to the 1650s.[4] In later use it is often contrasted with qualitative.[2][9] In 1798 it was applied to vowel length, and in prosody to verse based on the length of syllables rather than on stress, as in Latin and Greek poetry.[2][9] From 1831 chemists used it of an analysis or reaction that accounts for the whole quantity of a substance.[2]

Timeline

  • before 1513 – possessing quantity or spatial extent.[2]
  • 1581 – first known use in Merriam-Webster.[5]
  • 1610 – measurable, quantifiable.[2]
  • 1625 – concerned with quantity or its measurement.[2]
  • 1656 – noun, a quantifiable thing (rare).[2]
  • 1798 – based on vowel or syllable length, in prosody.[2]
  • 1831 – in chemistry, acting on the whole quantity of a substance.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Relating to or concerned with quantity or amount rather than quality: a quantitative study of rainfall.
  2. Able to be measured or expressed as a number.
  3. (prosody) Of metre, based on the length of syllables rather than on stress.
  4. (chemistry) Of an analysis or reaction, accounting for the whole amount of a substance.

Word family

  • quantitatively
  • quantitativeness
  • nonquantitative
  • semiquantitative
  • unquantitative
  • quantitative analysis

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins