-ive

See also: ive, īve, and I've

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman -if (feminine -ive), from Latin -ivus. Until the fourteenth century all Middle English loanwords from Anglo-Norman ended in -if (compare actif, natif, sensitif, pensif etc.), and under the influence of literary Neolatin both languages introduced the form -ive. Those forms that have not been replaced were subsequently changed to end in -y (compare hasty, from hastif, jolly, from jolif etc.).

Like the Latin suffix -io (genitive -ionis), Latin suffix -ivus is appended to the perfect passive participle to form an adjective of action.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɪv/

Suffix

-ive

An adjective suffix signifying relating or belonging to, of the nature of, tending to; as affirmative, active, conclusive, corrective, diminutive.

Derived terms

Translations

adjectival suffix: of the nature of; tending to

Asturian: -ivu
Catalan: -iu (ca)
Dutch: -ief (nl), -ieve
Finnish: -iivi, -iivinen
French: -if (fr) m, -ive f
Galician: -ivo
German: -iv (de)
Irish: -ach
Italian: -ivo m, -iva f, -ivi m pl, -ive f pl

Japanese: -的 (ja) (-teki)
Latin: -ivus m, -iva f, -ivum n, -ivi m pl, -ivae f pl, -iva n pl
Malay: -if
Portuguese: -ivo (pt)
Romanian: -iv m, -ivă f
Russian: -и́вный (-ívnyj)
Serbo-Croatian: -ivan m, -ivna f, -ivno n
Spanish: -ivo (es) m, -iva (es) f

References

-ive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Miller, D. Gary (2006) Latin Suffixal Derivatives in English and Their Indo-European Ancestry, Oxford University Press, page 204

Anagrams

VEI, vie

Latin

Suffix

-īve

vocative masculine singular of -īvus

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