Privatives

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A grammatical term referring to expressions that convey negation or absence of a quality or state, such as prefixes or modifiers used to indicate the lack of something
2. Pertaining to words or phrases that imply a deficit or a lack, commonly found in linguistic constructions that denote the opposite of a particular attribute
3. Relating to elements in language that signify nonexistence or the denial of characteristics, often enhancing the meaning of terms by indicating what is not present

Etymology: "Privatives" is the plural of "privative," a noun for words that express the absence or negation of something, such as "unhappy" or "atheist." The plural form is what you meet when linguists discuss a whole class of such words at once. The singular traces to Latin "privativus," meaning "depriving" or "expressing privation," formed from "privare," "to deprive," which in turn comes from "privus," "single" or "one's own." The idea behind the Latin was that a privation strips something away from what one owns, so the sense of loss or lack runs through the family. Note that the ancestral "privus" also gave English "private," which shares that sense of something belonging to one person and kept apart from others. The grammatical sense of "privative" is therefore a close relative of the everyday word for something secluded, though the two meanings developed in different directions.