English
attractive
Attractive comes from Late Latin attractīvus ‘interesting’, from Latin attrahō ‘to attract, draw close’, and ultimately from trahō ‘drag’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahō‘drag’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEattrahō‘to attract’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEattractīvus‘interesting’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600attractif
- Englishearliest quotation 2013attractive
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahō‘drag’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEattrahō‘to attract’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEattractīvus‘interesting’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600attractif
- Englishearliest quotation 2013attractive
Earliest quotation: 2013, Olivia Solomon, Idol Worship and the Life Ruiners of Ecosoc: “[…] or I keysmash my feelings away every time…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- ‘to run, to drag, to pull’
draw, train, draft, drag, retreat, extraction, draught, contraction, abstraction, retract, subtraction, entreat, abstractly, 49 more
through Latin trahō ‘drag’
treat, contract, portrait, abstract, extract, trait, distraction, tractor, distract, tram, traction, tract, trattoria, 35 more
Today it means
adj Causing attraction; having the quality of attracting by inherent force.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin trahō / attractive