ergative
er·gat·ive/ˈɝɡətɪv/adjective, noun
ergative is spelled E-R-G-A-T-I-V-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables (er·gat·ive). It appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 115,751st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, ergative means “With the subject of a transitive construction having grammatical cases or thematic relations different from those of an intransitive construction” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in ergative?
| Letters | 8: E-R-G-A-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: er·gat·ive |
| In writing | about once in every 15 million words; the 115,751st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is ergative?
Ergative appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 115,751st 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 ergative?
- UK /ˈɜːɡətɪv/
- US /ˈɝɡətɪv/
- US [-ɾɪv]
Ergative has 3 syllables, split er·gat·ive in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-ergative.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ergative
- ergatives plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ergative mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
With the subject of a transitive construction having grammatical cases or thematic relations different from those of an intransitive construction.
The case systems of ergative languages are counter-intuitive to speakers of many Indo-European languages.
noun
- 1
Ellipsis of ergative case (“a grammatical case used to indicate the agent of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages”).
- 2
An ergative verb or other expression.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ergative in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense with the subjects of transitive constructions having grammatical cases or themat:
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 ergative come from?
From Ancient Greek ἐργᾰ́της (ergắtēs, “labourer, worker”) + English -ive (suffix meaning ‘belong or relating to; of the nature of; serving to; tending to’ forming adjectives).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).