The story
- Latin · derived fromcaptīvus“captive”
- Anglo-Norman · derived fromcaitif“captive”
- Middle English · inherited fromcaitif
- English todaycaitiff
From Middle English caitif, from Anglo-Norman caitif (“captive”), akin to Old French chaitif (French chétif) and Middle Dutch keytyf, from a Vulgar Latin *cactīvus alteration via Gaulish influence from Latin captīvus (“captive”); compare Italian cattivo (“bad, wicked”). Doublet of captive.
Words from the same roots
Latincaptīvus all →
captivecaptivate
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.