Where does “naïveté” come from?
Naïveté comes from French naïveté, from French naïf, from Latin nativus meaning "native or inborn," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ǵenh₁- meaning "to give birth or produce."
naïveté (English): Lack of sophistication, experience, judgement or...
Definitions
- Lack of sophistication, experience, judgement or...
Ancestry of “naïveté”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | naïveté | innocence, naïveté |
| 2 | French | naïf | naive, dewy-eyed; gullible |
| 3 | Old French | naïf | — |
| 4 | Latin | nātīvus | created, made |
| 5 | Latin | nātus | born, arisen, made |
| 6 | Latin | gnātus | — |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | gnātos | born |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵn̥h₁tós | begotten, produced |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵenh₁- | to produce, to beget, to give birth |