preventive
/pɹɪˈventɪv/prih-VEN-tiv
UK form converted from the US by rule · unchecked/pɹɪˈvɛntɪv/prih-VEN-tiv
Meaningtending to prevent
Common meaning: meant to stop something from happening
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- prebefore
- ventto comeLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1969 · scan
- iveadjective ending: tending to
‘before’ + ‘to come’ → preventive
Journey through time
- Latinveniō, vēnī, ventum‘to come’
- Englishprevent‘to stop something from happening’
- Englishformed in English from preventpreventive‘meant to stop something from happening’ · 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 prevent + -ive.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), PREVENT, p.466 · scan
Roots
- veniō, vēnī, ventum Latin “to come”
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