English
illative
Illative comes from Latin illātus ‘carried or brought into somewhere, inserted,…’, from ferō ‘bear, carry’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-1‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti2‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferō2‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferō3‘bear, carry’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinferō3‘carry or bring into somewhere’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEillātus3‘carried or brought into somewhere, inserted, having been carried somewhere’perfect passive participle of inferō
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEillātīvus3
- Englishtodayillative3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin fero
- 3 Wiktionary, English illative
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéretiWiktionary, Latin fero‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferōWiktionary, Latin fero‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferōWiktionary, English illative‘bear, carry’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinferōWiktionary, English illative‘carry or bring into somewhere’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEillātusWiktionary, English illative‘carried or brought into somewhere, inserted, having been carried somewhere’perfect passive participle of inferō
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEillātīvusWiktionary, English illative
- EnglishtodayillativeWiktionary, English illative
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’
bar, birth, prefer, broad, bread, fortune, burden, bearing, barrel, barn, bore, fury, baron, breeze, bark, berth, broom, barrow, embargo, fret, ferret, insufferable, bier, bahar, proffer, birr, barrette, bairn, burnish, furtive, 111 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti ‘to bear, carry’
bear, borne, phosphorus, phosphate, euphoria, dysphoria, semaphore, indifferently, phosphine, 89 more
through Proto-Italic *ferō ‘to carry, bear’
suffering, differently, indifferent, differentiation, deference, infertility, infertile, differentially, deferential, differentiable, differentiator, 66 more
through Latin ferō ‘bear, carry’
different, offer, difference, reference, transfer, suffer, extraordinary, differ, referendum, translation, referee, relate, relation, frustration, strangely, relative, translate, fertility, extravagant, fertile, defer, confer, infra, frustrate, extraneous, strangeness, fertilization, elated, fertilize, ablation, efferent, estrange, elation, collation, collate, dilate, oblate, ablative, 77 more
through Latin inferō ‘carry or bring into somewhere’
Today it means
adj Of, or relating to an illation.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “illative”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti, Latin fero. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- / illative