Formalist comes from formal (from Latin formalis 'pertaining to form', from forma 'shape, form') plus the agent suffix -ist. It denotes one who insists on strict form and convention. The development is chiefly a borrowing or learned continuation, carrying an older form and meaning into English rather than building the word from a purely native base. In present use, it is used as a noun and adjective meaning "one who insists on or favors strict form and convention", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes derivatives such as formalistic and formalism and related forms such as formal, form, and formality, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Latin formalis and Latin forma, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance.