inactif

Forms

inactif (feminine inactive, masculine plural inactifs, feminine plural inactives)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French in- + actif.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary also treats it as a learned borrowing of Latin inactīvus.^[1] The TLFi compares the English unactive, recorded from the late 16th century, and inactive, recorded only from 1725.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1717 in the Nouvelles de la République des Lettres, of souls that might subsist after death in an inactive and insensible state.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In older physics and chemistry it described an inert body,^[6][7] and, from 1840 (Biot) in chemistry a substance that does not rotate the plane of polarized light.^[2] The common modern sense “without activity, idle” is the GLLF's second sense, dated before 1843; the sense “ineffective”, of a remedy, goes back to before 1794 (Chamfort), and in medicine to 1902.^[6] In economics the noun un inactif names a person without regular work who is not counted as unemployed.^[7]

Timeline

• 1717 – First recorded, of souls in an inactive state.^[2]
• before 1794 – Chamfort uses it in the sense “ineffective”.^[6]
• 1840 – Biot uses it of optically inactive substances.^[2]
• before 1843 – Delavigne uses it for “without activity”.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Idle, not active, doing nothing: Elle ne reste jamais inactive.^[7][8]
2. Of a market or business: with little activity: un marché boursier inactif.^[7][6]
3. (economics) Having no regular paid work without being unemployed; also as a noun, les inactifs.^[7]
4. Without effect, ineffective: Ce sirop est resté inactif.^[7][6]
5. (obsolete) Inert, of matter.^[7][6]
6. (chemistry) Not rotating the plane of polarized light.^[2]

Related words

• actif
• inactivité
• inaction

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 116b
6. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette