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negativo

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word negativo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1305–1306, Giordano da Pisa
Borrowed from
Latin negativus
Ultimate origin
Latin nego
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nego
Latin negativus
Italian negativo
From the same root
Latin abnego ← nego
Latin negator ← nego
Latin negito ← nego
Latin pernego ← nego
English negative ← negativus

Pronunciation

  • /ne.ɡaˈti.vo/[1]

Forms

negativo (feminine negativa, masculine plural negativi, feminine plural negative, superlative negativissimo)[1] An old form is niegativo.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin negātīvus (“that denies”), formed from negō (“to deny, refuse”) with the suffix -īvus.[3][4][5][6][1] In the photographic sense it came through English negative.[7] The Latin verb is also the source of negare.[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the sermons of Giordano da Pisa (1305–1306), with the sense “containing a negation, serving to deny”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

For centuries the adjective belonged to logic, grammar and theology: Tommaseo–Bellini quotes Segneri on a “negative” and a “positive” kindness, and a negative proposition in logic.[9] Alessandro Volta in 1816 used it for one of the two conventional poles of a scientific contrast, as in negative electricity.[3] By 1869 Tommaseo–Bellini records it for numbers below zero and for doctrines that only contradict others without proposing anything.[3] The sense “not having the hoped-for effect” is recorded in 1891 by Petrocchi.[3]

In photography Tommaseo–Bellini (1869) explains imagini negative as pictures in which the light parts of the object appear dark, and the noun negativo follows in 1875 in Lessona.[3] In medicine a test that excludes what was looked for, and then a patient who is free of it, are called negativo.[2][5] The adverb pensare negativo and the radio reply negativo for “no” are recent.[10]

Timeline

  • 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses negativo.[3]
  • 1816 – Alessandro Volta uses the word in physics.[3]
  • 1869 – Tommaseo–Bellini records negative numbers and negative photographic images.[3]
  • 1875 – The noun negativo, a photographic negative, appears in Lessona.[3]
  • 1891 – Petrocchi records the sense “unsuccessful”.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Expressing or containing a negation or a refusal: Alla mia domanda ha risposto con un cenno negativo.[5][8][7]
  2. Unfavourable, hostile: una recensione negativa.[5][8][7]
  3. Of a person or attitude, inclined to pessimism, not constructive.[5][8]
  4. Harmful, disadvantageous: il lato negativo di un'idea.[5][8][11]
  5. Having the opposite effect to the one hoped for: un bilancio negativo.[5][8]
  6. (medicine) Of a test, showing that what was looked for is absent; of a person, found free of it.[5][7][10]
  7. (law, ethics) Forbidding something: un precetto negativo.[5][11]
  8. (physics, mathematics) Conventionally opposed to positive, as of an electric charge, or less than zero, as of a number.[5][11][10]

Noun

  1. (photography) A negative, an image with light and dark reversed, and the film or plate that carries it.[5][10]

Adverb

  1. (colloquial) Negatively: pensare negativo.[10]
  2. (radio) “No”, as a reply in radio communication.[10]

Word family

  • negatività
  • negativamente
  • negativismo
  • negativizzare

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 11, 310
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  10. ^ a b c d e f Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  11. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Negativo.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/negativo. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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