innovative
/ˈɪnəˌveɪtɪv/IH-nuh-vay-tiv
/ˈɪnəˌveɪtɪv/IH-nuh-vay-tiv
Meaningtending to renew
Common meaning: tending to innovate
- inin, into; (before adjectives) not
- novnewLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1220 · scan
- atverb or adjective ending: to make, having
- iveadjective ending: tending to
‘in, into’ + ‘new’ → innovative
Journey through time
- Latinnovus‘new’
- Englishinnovate‘to bring in new methods’
- Englishformed in English from innovateinnovative‘tending to innovate’ · today
Sources & notes
Inferred source: no dictionary we use has an entry for this exact word. Its history is worked out from closely related, listed words in the same family, and we are trusting that link, so bear that in mind. Inferred meaning: tending to renew. It can be inferred from any of: innovate.
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 innovate + -ive (inferred: this exact word is not listed in our dictionaries).
Roots
- novus Latin “new”
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