Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “assertive” come from?

Assertive comes from English assert, from Latin assertus (past participle of asserere, "to join to oneself"), built from Latin ad- (toward) and a root related to Proto-Indo-European ser- (to join or bind).

assertive (English): Boldly self-assured; confident without being...

Definitions

  1. Boldly self-assured; confident without being...

Ancestry of “assertive”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishassertTo declare with assurance or plainly and...
2Latinassertusdeclared free, set free, liberated, having been...
3Latinasserō—
4Latinad-to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it...
5Latinīn-—
6Latinîn—
7Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
8Proto-Italicenin
9Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “assertive”

  • assertiveness
  • assertively
  • unassertive
  • nonassertive
  • unassertiveness
  • nonassertiveness
  • nonassertively
  • overassertive
  • unassertively
  • overassertiveness
  • self-assertive
  • hyperassertive
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →