productive

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin productivus, equivalent to product +‎ -ive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹəˈdʌk.tɪv/, /pɹəˈdʌk.təv/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌktɪv

Adjective

productive (comparative more productive, superlative most productive)

1. Capable of producing something, especially in abundance; fertile.
2. Yielding good or useful results; constructive.
3. Of, or relating to the creation of goods or services.
5. (linguistics, of an affix or word construction rule) Consistently applicable to any of an open set of words.
   • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 138:

     Moreover, this relationship is a productive one, in the sense that when new Adjectives are created (e.g. ginormous concocted out of gigantic and enormous), then the corresponding Adverb form (in this case ginormously) can also be used. And in those exceptional cases where Adverbs do not end in -ly, they generally have the same form as the corresponding Adjective, as with hard, fast, etc.

6. (medicine) Of a cough, producing mucus or sputum from the respiratory tract.
7. (medicine) Of inflammation, producing new tissue.
8. (set theory) A type of set of natural numbers, related to mathematical logic; a set ${\displaystyle S}$ is productive if there exists a total recursive function ${\displaystyle f}$ such that ${\displaystyle \forall x\in \mathbb {N} ,~~W_{x}\subseteq S\Rightarrow f(x)\in A\setminus W_{x}}$, where ${\displaystyle W_{x}}$ is a recursive function whose Gödel number is ${\displaystyle x}$.

   a productive set

Usage notes

In English, the plural suffix “-es” is productive because it can be appended to an open set of words (singular nouns ending in sibilants). Thus, if a new word with that pattern becomes an English noun (e.g. *examplex), it would have a default plural (e.g. *examplexes) because “-es” is productive.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:productive

Antonyms

• baneful
• barren
• counterproductive, counter-productive
• destructive
• nonproductive, non-productive
• ruinous
• unproductive

Derived terms

• bioproductive
• contraproductive
• hyperproductive
• hypoproductive
• improductive
• osteoproductive
• overproductive
• preproductive
• productive efficiency
• productive forces
• productivism
• productivist
• productivize
• semiproductive
• superproductive
• underproductive

Related terms

• productively
• productiveness
• productivity

Translations

capable of producing something

Bulgarian: производителен (bg) (proizvoditelen) Catalan: productiu (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 生產的 / 生产的 (zh) (shēngchǎn de) Czech: produktivní (cs) Dutch: productief (nl) Esperanto: produktiva Estonian: produktiivne, viljakas Finnish: tuottava (fi), tuottoisa (fi); hedelmällinen (fi) (fertile) French: productif (fr) Galician: produtivo (gl) German: produktiv (de) Hungarian: termelékeny (hu), produktív (hu) Irish: bisiúil, torthúil Italian: produttivo (it) Japanese: 生産的 (ja) (seisanteki) Latvian: ražīgs, auglīgs, produktīvs Malayalam: ഉത്പാദകമായ (utpādakamāya) Norwegian: Bokmål: produktiv Nynorsk: produktiv Plautdietsch: fruchtboa Portuguese: produtivo (pt) Romanian: productiv (ro), fertil (ro), rodnic (ro) Russian: продукти́вный (ru) (produktívnyj), производи́тельный (ru) (proizvodítelʹnyj) Spanish: productivo (es) Tagalog: malalangin Turkish: üretken (tr)

yielding good or useful results; constructive

Bulgarian: продуктивен (bg) (produktiven) Catalan: productiu (ca) Danish: produktiv Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Finnish: tuloksellinen, tuloksekas Georgian: პროდუქტიული (ṗrodukṭiuli), კონსტრუქციული (ḳonsṭrukciuli) German: konstruktiv (de) Greek: Ancient: γόνιμος (gónimos) Japanese: 建設的 (ja) (kensetsuteki) Latin: conficiens Latvian: ražīgs, produktīvs, rezultatīvs Malayalam: ഉത്പാദകമായ (utpādakamāya) Norwegian: Bokmål: produktiv Nynorsk: produktiv Plautdietsch: fruchtboa Polish: produktywny (pl) Russian: продукти́вный (ru) (produktívnyj), конструкти́вный (ru) (konstruktívnyj) Spanish: productivo (es) Ukrainian: продукти́вний (produktývnyj)

of, or relating to the creation of goods or services

Bulgarian: производителен (bg) (proizvoditelen) Danish: produktiv Estonian: tootlik Finnish: tuotannollinen (fi) Latvian: ražīgs Norwegian: Bokmål: produktiv Nynorsk: produktiv Tagalog: malalangin

linguistics: consistently applicable to any of an open set of words

Bulgarian: продуктивен (bg) (produktiven) Chinese: Mandarin: 能產的 / 能产的 (néngchǎn de) Finnish: produktiivinen (fi) German: produktiv (de) Hungarian: termékeny (hu) Norwegian: Bokmål: produktiv Nynorsk: produktiv Turkish: üretken (tr) Vietnamese: năng sản

medicine: producing mucus or sputum

Finnish: limainen (fi), limaa irrottava, produktiivinen (fi)

medicine: producing new tissue

Finnish: produktiivinen (fi)

in set theory

Finnish: produktiivinen (fi) German: produktiv (de)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Irish: (please verify) táirgiúil

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “productive”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “productive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Adjective

productive

1. feminine singular of productif

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [proː.dʊkˈtiː.wɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [pro.dukˈtiː.ve]

Adjective

prōductīve

1. vocative masculine singular of prōductīvus