The story
- Latin · derived fromnātīvus m
- Anglo-Norman · borrowed fromneif m
- English todayneif
Borrowed from Anglo-Norman neif m, niefe f (“native, serf”), from Latin nātīvus m, nātīva f (“native”). Doublet of naïf and native.
Words from the same roots
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.