Completive comes from Late Latin completivus, from completus, past participle of complere ('to fill up, complete'). The historical trail runs through completivus in Latin and complere in Latin. Used as an adjective, completive now means "serving to complete; expressing completion, as a grammatical aspect", 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 completively and related forms such as complete, completion, and completeness. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.