Where does “passive” come from?
Passive comes from French passif, from Latin passivus, derived from the Latin verb patior meaning "to suffer or endure," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pe(i)-.
passive (English): Being subjected to an action without producing a...
Definitions
- Being subjected to an action without producing a...
Ancestry of “passive”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | passyf | — |
| 2 | French | passif | the passive voice; liability; passive |
| 3 | Latin | passivus | subject to passion or emotion; passive |
| 4 | Latin | -īvus | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -iHwós | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -wós | Creates adjectives from verb stems |
Words derived from “passive”