inchoative meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

inchoative

adj

UK /ɪnˈkəʊ.ə.tɪv/ · US /ɪnˈkoʊətɪv/

Etymology Borrowed from Latin inchoātīvus, formed by metathesis from incohātīvus, from incohō (“to begin”). Compare French inchoatif.

Initial; as yet unformed; inchoate.

[T]he day-Star […] ſhall be riſen in our hearts; vvhereof theſe acts of our intellect ſeem to be ſome inchoative or imperfect rays, […]1648, Walter Montagu, “The One and Twentieth Treatise. Of the Preheminences of a True Contemplative Life. §. I. Contemplation Defined, and Some Excellencies thereof Discoursed.”, in Miscellanea Spiritualia: Or, Devout Essaies, London: […] W[illiam] Lee, D[aniel] Pakeman, and G[abriel] Bedell, […], →OCLC, page 387:
Our first Piece is of Winter, or late Autumn, 1771,—while the solution of the Polish Business is still in its inchoative stages; …1858–1865, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences Aspectually indicating that a state is about to be entered or is in the process of being entered.

The inchoative (inceptive) aspect of a verb expresses the beginning of an action. Example: He is beginning to crawl.1974, Floyd L. Moreland, Rita M. Fleischer, Latin: An Intensive Course, University of California Press, page 12:

In Catalan, being a member of a class of third-conjugation verbs (e.g. servir) in which a syllable -eix- (or otherwise depending on dialect), derived from the Latin inchoative but now without meaning, is inserted into certain conjugations (e.g. serveixo).

Derived terms: inchoatively, inchoativeness, uninchoative
Related terms: inchoate, fientive, inceptive

inchoative

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Latin inchoātīvus, formed by metathesis from incohātīvus, from incohō (“to begin”). Compare French inchoatif.

Grammar, Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences An inchoative construction.

Related terms: emerging, prospective