Etymology

ergative

er·gat·ive
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Today it means: With the subject of a transitive construction having grammatical cases or thematic relations different from those of an intransitive construction. Full definition →

Ancient Greek ἐργᾰ́της
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromἐργᾰ́της“labourer, worker”
  2. English todayergative

From Ancient Greek ἐργᾰ́της (ergắtēs, “labourer, worker”) + English -ive (suffix meaning ‘belong or relating to; of the nature of; serving to; tending to’ forming adjectives).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.