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relative

rel·a·tive/ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/adjective, adverb, noun

relative is spelled R-E-L-A-T-I-V-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables (rel·a·tive). It appears 30 times per million words in written English, the 3,114th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, relative means “Connected to or depending on something else; comparative” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in relative?

Letters8: R-E-L-A-T-I-V-E
Syllables3: rel·a·tive
In writing30 times per million words; the 3,114th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is relative?

Relative appears 30 times per million words in written English, the 3,114th 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 relative?

  • /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/
  • /rɪˈleː.ʈɪʋ/

Relative has 3 syllables, split rel·a·tive in writing.

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

Words people confuse with relative

Also written: relatively.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with relative?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as relative.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: levirate.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of relative

  • rel.
  • relatives plural

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

What does relative mean?

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

adjective

  1. 1

    Connected to or depending on something else; comparative.

    We've been discussing the relative merits of various methods of transportation.

  2. 2

    Expressed in relation to another item, rather than in complete form.

    The relative URL /images/pic.jpg, when evaluated in the context of http://example.com/index.html, corresponds to the absolute URL http://example.com/images/pic.jpg.

  3. 3

    Depending on an antecedent; comparative.

    The words “big” and “small” are relative.

  4. 4

    Having the same key but differing in being major or minor.

  5. 5

    archaicrareRelevant; pertinent; related.

    relative to your earlier point about taxes, ...

  6. 6

    Capable to be changed by other beings or circumstance; conditional.

noun

  1. 1

    Someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family.

  2. 2

    Something kindred or related to something else.

  3. 3

    A type of adjective that inflects like a relative clause, rather than a true adjective, in certain Bantu languages.

adverb

  1. 1

    USAlternative form of relatively.

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

How do you abbreviate relative?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of relative: rel..

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

Relative in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchrelatif (conditional; depending on something else), parent (someone connected by blood, marriage, or…)
Germanvergleichsweise, relativ (conditional; depending on something else), Verwandter, Blutsverwandter, Verwandte, Blutsverwandte (someone connected by blood, marriage, or…)
Portugueserelativo (conditional; depending on something else), parente, parenta (someone connected by blood, marriage, or…)
Spanishrelativo (conditional; depending on something else), familiar, pariente, parienta, parentela, deudo (someone connected by blood, marriage, or…)

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 relative come from?

From Middle French relatif, from Late Latin relātīvus, from Latin relātus, perfect passive participle of referō (“to carry back, to ascribe”), from re- (“again”) + ferō (“to bear or carry”). By surface analysis, relate + -ive.

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

What to look up after relative