Captious comes from Latin captiōsus ('fallacious, ensnaring'), from captiō ('a taking, deception'), from capere ('to take, seize'). The historical trail runs through captiōsus in Latin and capere in Latin. Used as an adjective, captious now means "inclined to find trivial faults; carping", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as captiously and captiousness and related forms such as capture and captivate. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.