Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “attractive” come from?

Attractive comes from Middle French attractif, from Late Latin attractivus, ultimately from Latin ad meaning "to" and the Proto-Indo-European root ád or h₂éd.

attractive (English): Causing attraction; having the quality of...

Definitions

  1. Causing attraction; having the quality of...

Ancestry of “attractive”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchattractif—
2Late Latinattractivusinteresting; attractive
3Latinad-to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it...
4Latinīn-—
5Latinîn—
6Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
7Proto-Italicenin
8Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “attractive”

  • attractiveness
  • unattractive
  • attractively
  • unattractiveness
  • unattractively
  • attractivity
  • chemoattractive
  • nonattractive
  • superattractive
  • counterattractive
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →