Etymology

contraproductive

Today it means: Counterproductive. Full definition →

English productive ← Late Latin prōductīvus ← Latin prōdūcō
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Italic*kom
  4. Proto-Italic*kom-
  5. Proto-Italic*komteros
  6. Proto-Italic*komterād
  7. Latincontrā
  8. Englishcontra-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
  10. Proto-Indo-European*pér
  11. Proto-Indo-European*pró
  12. Proto-Indo-European*pro-
  13. Proto-Italic*pro-
  14. Latinprō-
  15. Proto-Indo-European*dewk-
  16. Proto-Indo-European*déwkti
  17. Proto-Italic*doukō
  18. Latindūcō
  19. Latinprōdūcō
  20. Late Latinprōductīvus
  21. Englishproductive
  22. English todaycontraproductive

From contra- + productive. Spontaneously calqued from the users' respective native language, e.g. German kontraproduktiv, Romanian contraproductiv.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.