Meanings
plural jussives
- countableuncountableusuallygrammarThe jussive mood, a verb inflection used to indicate a command, permission or agreement with a request; an instance of a verb so inflected.
The jussive and cohortative usually convey more indirect, or more subtle, expressions of volition than the imperative does.
2006, Robert Ray Ellis, Learning to Read Biblical Hebrew: An Introductory Grammar, page 1743 more examples
For example, in the Aaronide blessing, only two of the six verbs are formally jussives, yet all have the same volitional sense.
1990, Bruce K. Waltke, Michael Patrick O′Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, page 566As far as the jussive goes — ignoring the very few occurrences of this in first person — it can be noted that most of the second-person jussives are in negative commands.
2003, Robert E. Longacre, Joseph: A Story of Divine Providence: A Text Theoretical and Textlinguistic Analysis of Genesis 37 and 39-48, 2nd edition, footnote, page 121If, on the other hand, reference is made purely to the root, we would expect all frequentative jussives to appear with a front element, producing *mɨt′ət′ɨs instead of mɨt′ət′ɨs (19d).
2003, Sharon Rose, “The formation of Ethiopian Semitic internal reduplication”, in Joseph Shimron, editor, Language Processing and Acquisition in Languages of Semitic, Root-Based, Morphology, page 90 - ArabicuncountableusuallygrammarA verbal mood of vague or miscellaneous senses, occurring after some particles and in conditional clauses.
Synonyms: apocopate
- not comparablegrammarOf or in the jussive mood.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA verbal mood of vague or miscellaneous senses, occurring after some particles and in conditional clauses.
Origin
Translations
Arabic مَجْزُوم, مجزوم
- مَجْزُوم (majzūm)jussive mood
- مجزوم (majzūm)of or in the jussive mood
Bulgarian повелително наклонение, повелителен
- повелително наклонение (povelitelno naklonenie)jussive mood
- повелителен (povelitelen)of or in the jussive mood
Catalan jussiu
- jussiuof or in the jussive mood
Chinese Mandarin 要求語氣 /要求语气
- 要求語氣 /要求语气 (yāoqiú-yǔqì)jussive mood
Finnish jussiivi, jussiivi-
- jussiivijussive mood
- jussiivi-of or in the jussive mood
French jussif
- jussifjussive mood
German Jussiv, Apokopat
- Jussivjussive mood
- Apokopatjussive mood
Italian iussivo, iussivo
- iussivojussive mood
- iussivoof or in the jussive mood
Japanese 要求法
- 要求法 (yōkyū-hō)jussive mood
Korean 간접명령법
- 간접명령법 (ganjeommyeongnyeongbeop)jussive mood
Latin modus jussivus
- modus jussivusjussive mood
Polish tryb ścięty, ścięty
- tryb ściętyjussive mood
- ściętyof or in the jussive mood
Portuguese jussivo, jussivo
- jussivojussive mood
- jussivoof or in the jussive mood
Russian юсси́в
- юсси́в (jussív)jussive mood
Spanish yusivo, yusivo
- yusivojussive mood
- yusivoof or in the jussive mood
Swedish jussiv
- jussivof or in the jussive mood
Cite this entry
jussive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jussive
“jussive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jussive. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jussive,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jussive.
Source: jussive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.