Etymology

formative

form·at·ive
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Today it means: Capable of forming something. Full definition →

Middle English formatyve ← Old French formatif ← Medieval Latin formātīvus
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formative · adjective1

  1. Latin · derived fromfōrmātus
  2. Medieval Latin · derived fromformātīvus
  3. Old French · derived fromformatif
  4. Middle English · inherited fromformatyve
  5. English todayformative

From Middle English formatyve, formatif (“having the ability to form”), from Old French formatif, formative (modern French formatif), from Medieval Latin formātīvus, from Latin fōrmātus + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘doing’ or ‘related to doing’). Fōrmātus is the perfect passive participle of fōrmō (“to form, to shape”), from fōrma (“a form, shape”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “a form, shape”) (see further at that entry). By surface analysis, form + -ative.

formative · noun2

  1. Old French · derived fromformatif
  2. Middle French · derived fromformatif
  3. German · borrowed fromFormativ
  4. English todayformative

Etymology 2 sense 1 (“thing which causes formation to occur”) is derived from the noun. Etymology 2 sense 2.1 (“language unit”) is borrowed from German Formativ, a noun use of formativ (adjective), from Middle French formatif, from Old French formatif (see etymology 1).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.