Adjective

How to spell adjective

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce adjective

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does adjective mean?

1. nounA word that describes or modifies a noun, such as 'red', 'tall', or 'happy'.

Adjective in a sentence

• The teacher asked the class to underline every adjective in the paragraph.

• In the phrase 'a quiet room', the word 'quiet' is an adjective.

Where does adjective come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin adjectivum, a grammatical term meaning literally a word that is 'thrown towards' or 'added to' another word. It was built from the prefix ad- ('to, toward') and the verb jacere ('to throw'), so an adjective was understood as something tossed alongside a noun to qualify it. The term passed into English through Old French in the late 1300s, originally appearing in the phrase 'noun adjective' before it became a standalone label. The same jacere root, meaning 'to throw', also gives us 'project' (to throw forward), 'reject' (to throw back), and 'eject' (to throw out), which is a useful clue to the spelled-in 'ject'. Knowing that buried 'ject' is what helps writers keep the silent-feeling middle from collapsing into 'adjctive' or 'adjuctive'.

How the word is built

• ad- (to, toward)
• ject (from Latin jacere: to throw)
• -ive (adjective/noun suffix)