Monotransitive

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing a verb that requires exactly one direct object to complete its meaning, often indicating an action performed on or for something else
2. Pertaining to verbs that take a single direct object, expressing actions or states that affect one entity without additional complements
3. Characterizing verbs needing one object to form a complete predicate, thereby specifying who or what receives the action or is involved in it

Etymology: Monotransitive is a grammatical term built from two parts. The first, "mono-", comes from ancient Greek "mónos", meaning "single" or "alone", and entered English as a prefix in its own right. The second part is "transitive", which goes back to Latin "trānsitīvus", formed from "trānseō" ("to go across"), itself made of "trāns" ("across") and "eō" ("to go"). The idea behind "transitive" is that an action passes across from a subject to an object. Putting the two together gives a precise label: a verb that carries its action over onto exactly one object, such as "she kicked the ball", where the kicking passes from the subject to a single target. Grammarians needed a term for this contrast with verbs that take no object at all, or with those that take two, so they attached "mono-" to the established word. The result is a coinage of modern grammatical analysis rather than an ancient term, and the Greek and Latin pieces were assembled for that purpose.

Synonyms: single-object verb, monovalent verb

Antonyms: ditransitive, transitive