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

  1. Being subjected to an action without producing a...

Ancestry of “passive”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishpassyfpassive unreactive, inactive
2Frenchpassifthe passive voice; liability; passive
3Latinpassivussubject to passion or emotion; passive
4Latin-īvusAdjective suffix
5Proto-Indo-European-iHwós—
6Proto-Indo-European-wósCreates adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “passive”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -wós →