Captive

How to spell captive

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce captive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does captive mean?

1. adjectiveHeld prisoner or confined and unable to escape or leave.
2. nounA person who is taken prisoner or held against their will.

Captive in a sentence

• adjective

  The rescued captive soldiers were finally returned home.

• noun

  The kidnappers released their captive after the ransom was paid.

• adjective

  Advertisers love a captive audience trapped on a long flight.

• noun

  Each captive was questioned separately by the investigators.

Where does captive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin captivus, meaning 'taken' or 'caught', which was formed from the verb capere, 'to take or seize'. The same capere root branches into a remarkable family of English words, including capture, captor, captivate, and even caption, all carrying the idea of seizing or holding. English took captive in during the 1300s, partly through Old French (where it appeared as captif) and partly reinforced directly from the Latin, which helps explain why the original 'capt' spelling stayed intact rather than softening. At first it described people seized in war or held as prisoners, and only later did it extend to figurative uses such as a captive audience that cannot easily leave. Because the word keeps its Latin 'capt' stem so cleanly, it is one of the more spelling-friendly members of its family.

How the word is built

• capt- (from Latin capere: to take, seize)
• -ive (adjective/noun suffix)