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-un-, non-, not
5Latinînin, at, on, upon, from (space)
6Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
7Proto-Italicenin
8Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “attractive”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →