additive

C2 Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈæd.ɪ.tɪv/ UK /ˈæd.ɪ.tɪv/ See IPA manual

Freq #45911

Meanings

1

noun
A substance added to food, fuel, or another product to give it certain qualities.

This juice contains no artificial colours or additives.
2

adj
Produced by adding things together; involving addition.

The final cost is additive, built up from many small charges.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a substance added to food,... temper

Word family

Forms additives

Derived forms additivelyadditivenessadditivismadelecycloadditivegeoadditiveheteroadditivehypoadditiveinteradditivenonadditiveoveradditivephytoadditive

Related forms additivity

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

food additive
a substance added to food to change its flavor, appearance, or keeping qualities

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Late Latin additivus, from the participial stem of Latin addere (“to add”).

*deh₃- Proto-Indo-European additivus la-lat addere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# additive

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈæd.ɪ.tɪv/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈæd.ɪ.tɪv/
**Frequency rank:** 45911

## Meanings
1. A substance added to food, fuel, or another product to give it certain qualities.
2. Produced by adding things together; involving addition.

## Examples
- This juice contains no artificial colours or additives.
- The final cost is additive, built up from many small charges.

## Derived Forms
- additively
- additiveness
- additivism
- adele
- cycloadditive
- geoadditive
- heteroadditive
- hypoadditive
- interadditive
- nonadditive
- overadditive
- phytoadditive

## Related Forms
- additivity

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *deh₃-
- Root: additivus
- Root: addere

## Etymology
From Late Latin additivus, from the participial stem of Latin addere (“to add”).

## AI Etymology
Additive is from Late Latin additivus, from the participial stem of Latin addere (“to add”). Important recorded forms include *deh₃- (Proto-Indo-European), additivus (la-lat), and addere (Latin). Current senses include a substance added to food, fuel, or another product to give it certain qualities and produced by adding things together; involving addition. The wider family includes derived forms such as additively, additiveness, additivism, adele, and cycloadditive and related words such as additivity.

## Topics
- Food & Drink
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown