Wordwyrt

expressive

/ɪkˈspɹesɪv/ik-SPREH-siv
/ɪkˈspɹɛsɪv/ik-SPREH-siv

Meaningtending to press out

Common meaning: showing feelings clearly

‘out’ + ‘to press’ → expressive

Journey through time

  1. Latinpremō, pressī, pressum‘to press’
  2. Old Frenchexpressource
  3. Englishexpress‘to put into words’
  4. Englishformed in English from expressexpressive‘showing feelings clearly’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from express + -ive.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), EXPRESS, p.200 · scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app