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Other

ergative

Syllabification: (er·ga·tive)
Pronunciation: /ˈərgətiv/
Grammar
Definition of ergative

adjective

  • relating to or denoting a case of nouns (in some languages, e.g., Basque and Eskimo) that identifies the subject of a transitive verb and is different from the case that identifies the subject of an intransitive verb.
  • (of a language) possessing the ergative case.
  • (in English) denoting verbs that can be used both transitively and intransitively to describe the same action, with the object in the former case being the subject in the latter, as in I boiled the kettle and the kettle boiled. Compare with inchoative.

noun

  • an ergative word.
  • (the ergative) the ergative case.

Derivatives

ergativity

Pronunciation: /ˌərgəˈtivitē/
noun

Origin:

1950s: from Greek ergatēs 'worker' (from ergon 'work') + -ive

ergative in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of ergative in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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