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affirmative

/əˈfɝməɾɪv/adjective, noun, interjection

affirmative is spelled A-F-F-I-R-M-A-T-I-V-E: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears 3.7 times per million words in written English, the 13,496th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, affirmative means “pertaining to truth; asserting that something is; affirming” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in affirmative?

Letters11: A-F-F-I-R-M-A-T-I-V-E
Syllables4 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.7 times per million words; the 13,496th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is affirmative?

Affirmative appears 3.7 times per million words in written English, the 13,496th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce affirmative?

  • UK /əˈfɜːmətɪv/
  • US /əˈfɝməɾɪv/

Affirmative has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-affirmative.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of affirmative

  • more affirmative comparative
  • most affirmative superlative
  • affirmatives plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does affirmative mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    pertaining to truth; asserting that something is; affirming

    an affirmative answer

  2. 2

    pertaining to any assertion or active confirmation that favors a particular result

  3. 3

    positive

    an affirmative vote

  4. 4

    Confirmative; ratifying.

    an act affirmative of common law

  5. 5

    Dogmatic.

  6. 6

    Expressing the agreement of the two terms of a proposition.

  7. 7

    positive; not negative

noun

  1. 1

    Yes; an answer that shows agreement or acceptance.

    That’s an affirmative Houston, the space shuttle has lost the secondary thrusters.

  2. 2

    An answer that shows agreement or acceptance.

  3. 3

    obsoleteAn assertion.

interjection

  1. 1

    Yes.

  2. 2

    Yes; true; correct.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Affirmative in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchaffirmatif (pertaining to truth)
Germanaffirmativ (pertaining to truth)
Portugueseafirmativo, positivo (pertaining to truth), afirmativa (answer that shows agreement or acceptance)
Spanishafirmativo (pertaining to truth), afirmativa (answer that shows agreement or acceptance), positivo (positive)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does affirmative come from?

From Middle English affirmative, affirmatyve, from Old French affirmatif, from Latin affirmativus, from affirmare (“to assert”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after affirmative