Elective
adjectiveChosen by preference rather than required; optional.
How to spell elective
8 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce elective
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does elective mean?
- adjectiveChosen by preference rather than required; optional.
- nounAn optional course of study that a student may choose to take.
Elective in a sentence
-
adjective
The procedure was elective surgery, so she could schedule it whenever suited her.
-
noun
She filled her final semester with an elective in photography.
-
adjective
Students must take two elective modules alongside the compulsory core.
-
noun
The timetable left room for one extra elective each term.
Where does elective come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This word traces back to the Latin verb eligere, meaning 'to pick out' or 'to choose', which was formed from ex 'out' and legere 'to gather, to choose'. The past participle of eligere was electus, and from it came the late Latin adjective electivus, describing something arrived at by choice. English took the word up in the 1600s, first to mean 'chosen' or 'depending on choice', as opposed to something fixed or compulsory. The same legere root sits inside a whole family of relatives such as 'elect', 'select', 'collect', and 'election', all of which involve picking or gathering. Keeping that 'lect' centre in mind helps with the spelling: the trap is the unstressed opening, which sounds like 'uh', yet is written with a single e from the old ex- prefix.
How the word is built
- e- (from ex-: out)
- lect (from legere: to choose)
- -ive (adjective/noun suffix)
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