Adjectives

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A grammatical class of words used to modify, limit, or describe a noun or pronoun by indicating qualities, states, or distinctions
2. Words that provide qualities, quantities, or specify characteristics of nouns or pronouns
3. Terms used to alter or specify the meaning of a noun or pronoun by expressing attributes or states

Etymology: "Adjectives" is simply the plural of "adjective," so the story belongs to the singular. The word traces back through Middle English and Old French to Latin "adiectivus," formed from "adiciō," meaning "to add," built from "ad-" ("to, towards") and "iaciō" ("to throw"). Literally, then, an adjective is something thrown onto a noun. The more striking origin lies in Ancient Greek. Greek grammarians used "epithetikón," meaning "added," and Latin translators rendered it with the new word "adiectivus," a calque, or word-for-word copy, of that Greek term. The Greek word belongs to a family that also gave English "epithet," a descriptive phrase attached to a name, as in "Ivan the Terrible."