English
active
Active comes from Middle English actyf, from Old French actif, from Latin āctīvus, from agō ‘to do, act’, ultimately from PIE *h₂éǵeti.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éǵeti‘to be driving’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagō‘to do, to act’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEāctīvus
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400actif
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500actyf‘active’
- Englishearliest quotation 1910active
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éǵeti‘to be driving’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagō‘to do, to act’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEāctīvus
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400actif
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500actyf‘active’
- Englishearliest quotation 1910active
Earliest quotation: 1910, Emerson Hough, Indianapolis: “This new-comer was a man who in any company…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-
suggest, register, essay, gesture, digest, acre, congestion, agrarian, belligerent, progesterone, ingest, gestation, agitate, axiomatic, agger, samaj, gerund, gestion, 135 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti ‘to be driving’
strategy, agony, antagonist, axiom, antagonism, agonist, reactionary, antagonize, stratagem, glucagon, agonize, 108 more
through Proto-Italic *agō ‘to drive’
reaction, transaction, unambiguous, reagent, ambiguously, 86 more
through Latin agō ‘to act, to behave’
agency, agent, act, action, actual, agenda, examine, actor, examination, ambiguous, squat, agile, ambiguity, agility, assay, agitation, enact, cogent, actuator, exigent, actuation, inexact, actuate, redact, 98 more
through Latin āctīvus
through Old French actif
Today it means
adj Having the power or quality of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting;—opposed to passive, that receives.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti / active