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receptive

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Etymology and origin of the English word receptive

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1425 before 1425, translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie
Borrowed from
Latin receptivus
Ultimate origin
Latin recipiō

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɹɪˈsɛptɪv/[1]
  • US: /ɹəˈsɛptɪv/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin receptīvus (“capable of receiving”),[2][3][4][5] common in British sources from about 1200,[2] formed from receptus, the past participle of recipiō (“to take back, receive”), and the suffix -īvus.[2][4][5] The Shorter Oxford also names French réceptif as a possible source,[6] and the OED compares Middle French receptif (about 1450), Spanish receptivo and Italian ricettivo.[2] The Latin verb is the source of receive.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Capable of receiving, followed by of: before 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie.[2] Etymonline dates it to the early 15th century, as "having the quality of receiving, acting as a receptacle".[3]

Semantic evolution

The word began in learned writing for anything able to take in or hold something.[2][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "having the quality of admitting what is communicated", quoting Hooker on the soul and Glanvill on space "receptive of all bodies".[7] Without a following of it is recorded from 1547,[2] and the use with to, open to ideas or suggestions, from 1845.[2] In 1889 it entered both medicine and psychology, for the understanding of language as against its production, and botany, for a female flower ready to be fertilized;[2] Etymonline dates the language sense to 1926.[3] Since 1922 zoologists have used it of a female animal willing to mate.[2][4]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – capable of receiving, with of.[2]
  • 1547 – without a following preposition.[2]
  • 1845 – with to, open to ideas or suggestions.[2]
  • 1889 – of or relating to the understanding of language.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1926.[3]
  • 1889 – of a female flower, sexually mature.[2]
  • 1922 – of a female animal, willing to mate.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Willing to consider new ideas, suggestions or impressions: The board was receptive to the proposal.[4][8][2]
  2. Able to receive or hold something.[8][4][2]
  3. Quick to understand.[8]
  4. Of a sense organ, able to receive and pass on stimuli; sensory.[4]
  5. Relating to the understanding of language rather than its production.[2][3]
  6. Of a female animal, ready to mate; of a female flower, ready to be fertilized.[4][2]

Word family

  • receptively
  • receptiveness
  • receptivity
  • nonreceptive
  • unreceptive

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ 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 c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Receptive.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/receptive. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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