Etymologically
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negativo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 20:49. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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