vegetative

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vegetatif, also vegetative,^[2][3] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman vegetatif and Middle French vegetatif,^[4][5][6] and partly borrowed from Medieval Latin vegetativus.^[4][5][3][7] The Anglo-Norman and Old French adjective, recorded from the 13th century, described the soul as having the powers of growth but not of feeling or reason.^[4] The Medieval Latin word is formed from vegetātus, the past participle of vegetō (“to enliven, invigorate”), and the suffix -īvus (-ive);^[4][3][8] the Latin verb comes from vegetus (“vigorous, lively”), from vegeō (“to be alive, active”),^[4][5] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“to be strong, lively”).^[5] The OED compares Catalan vegetatiu and Spanish vegetativo of the 13th century and Italian vegetativo of 1308.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In medieval philosophy and theology, of the soul or the part of the soul that governs the most basic functions of life, growth and reproduction: before 1398, in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus.^[4][2] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century, with the sense "endowed with the power of physical growth".^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word also meant producing or promoting growth, or animating;^[2][5] the OED records "promoting the growth of plants" from before 1450, in Lydgate.^[4] From about 1460 it was used of a power or principle of growth in general,^[4] and between 1509 and 1880 simply of things that grow like plants.^[4] The alchemists of the 15th to 17th centuries also gave the name to one kind of philosophers' stone.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "having the quality of growing without life" and "having the power to produce growth in plants".^[9] Later the word was applied to animals, for the functions such as digestion, growth and healing that work unconsciously and are shared with plants;^[5][10] from this came, in 1789, the figurative sense "dull, inactive, monotonous",^[4] and in medicine, from 1803, the sense "having only involuntary bodily functions", now used of a patient who lacks consciousness.^[4][5] Etymonline dates the sense "brain-dead, mentally inert" to 1893.^[5] In 19th-century botany it came to mean "concerned with growth rather than sexual reproduction" (1845) and "asexual" of reproduction (1855).^[4]

Timeline

• before 1398 – of the soul, governing growth and the basic functions of life.^[4][2]
• before 1450 – promoting the growth of plants.^[4]
• c. 1450 – a kind of philosophers' stone (obsolete by 1680).^[4]
• before 1500 – noun, a living thing without sensation or thought, especially a plant.^[4]
• 1509 – growing like a plant (obsolete by 1880).^[4]
• 1662 – consisting of or derived from plants.^[4]
• 1789 – figuratively, dull and inactive.^[4]
• 1803 – in medicine, having only involuntary bodily functions.^[4]
• 1845 – in botany, of growth rather than sexual reproduction.^[4]
• 1855 – of reproduction by asexual means.^[4]
• 1953 – of the stage in the multiplication of a virus in which its parts are made inside the host cell.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or typical of plants and their growth.^[11][10]
2. Relating to growth and nutrition rather than sexual reproduction: the vegetative parts of a plant, its roots, stems and leaves.^[10][3][4]
3. Of reproduction: asexual, as by budding, bulbs or runners.^[10][4][11]
4. Of bodily functions such as digestion and circulation that work without conscious control.^[10][4]
5. (medicine) Of a patient: alive but lacking consciousness and voluntary activity, as in a persistent vegetative state.^[4][5]
6. Dull and inactive: a vegetative existence.^[4][5]
7. Promoting the growth of plants.^[4][2][12]

Word family

• vegetatively
• vegetativeness
• nonvegetative

Related words

• vegetate
• vegetable
• vegetation
• vegetal
• vegetive

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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)
3. ^ a b c d 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 w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ 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. ^ 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 c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster