productive

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin productivus, equivalent to product +‎ -ive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/, /pɹəˈdʌk.təv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

productive (comparative more productive, superlative most productive)

1. Capable of producing something, especially in abundance; fertile.
2. Yielding good or useful results; constructive.
3. Of, or relating to the creation of goods or services.
5. (linguistics, of an affix or word construction rule) Consistently applicable to any of an open set of words.
   • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 138:

     Moreover, this relationship is a productive one, in the sense that when new Adjectives are created (e.g. ginormous concocted out of gigantic and enormous), then the corresponding Adverb form (in this case ginormously) can also be used. And in those exceptional cases where Adverbs do not end in -ly, they generally have the same form as the corresponding Adjective, as with hard, fast, etc.

6. (medicine) Of a cough, producing mucus or sputum from the respiratory tract.
7. (medicine) Of inflammation, producing new tissue.
8. (set theory) A type of set of natural numbers, related to mathematical logic.

   a productive set

Usage notes

In English, the plural suffix “-es” is productive because it can be appended to an open set of words (singular nouns ending in sibilants). Thus, if a new word with that pattern becomes an English noun (e.g. *examplex), it would have a default plural (e.g. *examplexes) because “-es” is productive.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:productive

Antonyms

• counterproductive, counter-productive
• unproductive
• nonproductive, non-productive
• barren
• destructive
• baneful
• ruinous

Derived terms

• bioproductive
• contraproductive
• hyperproductive
• hypoproductive
• improductive
• osteoproductive
• overproductive
• preproductive
• productive efficiency
• productive forces
• productivism
• productivist
• productivize
• semiproductive
• superproductive
• underproductive

 

Related terms

• productively
• productiveness
• productivity

Translations

capable of producing something

• Bulgarian: производителен (bg) (proizvoditelen)
• Catalan: productiu (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 生產的／生产的 (zh) (shēngchǎn de)

• Czech: produktivní (cs)
• Dutch: productief (nl)
• Esperanto: produktiva
• Estonian: produktiivne, viljakas
• Finnish: tuottava (fi), tuottoisa (fi); hedelmällinen (fi) (fertile)
• French: productif (fr)
• Galician: produtivo (gl)
• German: produktiv (de)
• Hungarian: termelékeny (hu), produktív (hu)
• Irish: bisiúil, torthúil
• Italian: produttivo (it)
• Japanese: 生産的な (ja) (seisanteki na)
• Latvian: ražīgs, auglīgs, produktīvs
• Malayalam: ഉത്പാദകമായ (utpādakamāya)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: produktiv

  Nynorsk: produktiv

• Plautdietsch: fruchtboa
• Portuguese: produtivo (pt)
• Romanian: productiv (ro), fertil (ro), rodnic (ro)
• Russian: продукти́вный (ru) (produktívnyj), производи́тельный (ru) (proizvodítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: productivo (es)
• Tagalog: malalangin
• Turkish: üretken (tr)

yielding good or useful results; constructive

• Bulgarian: продуктивен (bg) (produktiven)
• Catalan: productiu (ca)
• Danish: produktiv
• Finnish: tuloksellinen, tuloksekas
• Georgian: პროდუქტიული (ṗrodukṭiuli), კონსტრუქციული (ḳonsṭrukciuli)
• German: konstruktiv (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: γόνιμος (gónimos)

• Japanese: 建設的な (kensetsuteki na)
• Latin: conficiens
• Latvian: ražīgs, produktīvs, rezultatīvs
• Malayalam: ഉത്പാദകമായ (utpādakamāya)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: produktiv

  Nynorsk: produktiv

• Plautdietsch: fruchtboa
• Polish: produktywny (pl)
• Russian: продукти́вный (ru) (produktívnyj), конструкти́вный (ru) (konstruktívnyj)
• Spanish: productivo (es)
• Ukrainian: продукти́вний (produktývnyj)

of, or relating to the creation of goods or services

• Bulgarian: производителен (bg) (proizvoditelen)
• Danish: produktiv
• Estonian: tootlik
• Finnish: tuotannollinen (fi)
• Latvian: ražīgs
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: produktiv

  Nynorsk: produktiv

• Tagalog: malalangin

linguistics: consistently applicable to any of an open set of words

• Bulgarian: продуктивен (bg) (produktiven)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 能產的／能产的 (néngchǎn de)

• Finnish: produktiivinen (fi)
• German: produktiv (de)
• Hungarian: termékeny (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: produktiv

  Nynorsk: produktiv

• Turkish: üretken (tr)

medicine: producing mucus or sputum

• Finnish: limainen (fi), limaa irrottava, produktiivinen (fi)

medicine: producing new tissue

• Finnish: produktiivinen (fi)

in set theory

• Finnish: produktiivinen (fi)
• German: produktiv (de)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} táirgiúil

References

• “productive”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “productive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Adjective

productive

1. feminine singular of productif

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /proː.dukˈtiː.u̯e/, [proːd̪ʊkˈt̪iːu̯ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /pro.dukˈti.ve/, [prod̪ukˈt̪iːve]

Adjective

prōductīve

1. vocative masculine singular of prōductīvus