productive
/pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.22 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Capable of producing something, especially in abundance; fertile.
adj
adj
Consistently applicable to any of an open set of words.
adj
Of a cough, producing mucus or sputum from the respiratory tract.
adj
Of inflammation, producing new tissue.
adj
A type of set of natural numbers, related to mathematical logic; a set S is productive if there exists a total recursive function f such that ∀x∈ℕ,~~W_x⊆S⇒f(x)∈A⧵W_x, where W_x is a recursive function whose Gödel number is x.
Example Sentences
- "Moreover, this relationship is a productive one, in the sense that when new Adjectives are created (e.g. ginormous concocted out of gigantic and enormous), then the corresponding Adverb form (in this case ginormously) can also be used. And in those exceptional cases where Adverbs do not end in -ly, they generally have the same form as the corresponding Adjective, as with hard, fast, etc."
- "In practice, a productive prefix yields many attested words (especially new coinages) without loss of meaning. For example, re- (“again”) is highly productive (rebuild, rethink), whereas other prefixes are relatively less so."
- "a productive set"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *per-der.? Proto-Indo-European *pér Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *pró Proto-Indo-European *pro- Proto-Italic *pro- Latin prō- Proto-Indo-European *dewk- Proto-Indo-European *déwkti Proto-Italic *doukō Latin dūcō Latin prōdūcō Proto-Indo-European *-wós Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder. Latin -īvus Late Latin prōductīvusbor. English productive Borrowed from Late Latin productivus, equivalent to product + -ive.
Inflected Forms
more productive (comparative)
most productive (superlative)