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Origin and history of naif

naif(adj.)

"ingenuous, artless, natural," 1590s, from French naïf, literally "naive" (see naive). The masculine form of the French word, but used in English without reference to gender. As a noun, "natural, artless, naive person," first attested 1893, from French, where Old French naif also meant "native inhabitant; simpleton, natural fool."

also from 1590s

Entries linking to naif

naive(adj.)

1650s, "natural, simple, unsophisticated, artless," from French naïve, fem. of naïf, from Old French naif "naive, natural, genuine; just born; foolish, innocent; unspoiled, unworked" (13c.), from Latin nativus "not artificial," also "native, rustic," literally "born, innate, natural" (see native (adj.)). In philosophy by 1871 with reference to Schiller, and by 1855 in translations of him, who used naive (with reflective) in German in his theory of poetry. Related: Naively.

Yet just such an error is made by writers who apply indiscriminately the French feminine adjectives naïve and petite to "man" or "men," "woman" or "women." With naïve this error is almost universal though not quite .... [William B. Hodgson, "Errors in the Use of English," 1893]

Dryden, in "Marriage a-la-Mode" (1673) has naive, naiveté among the stock of French words Philotis brings Melantha to enrich her conversation. Also among them are foible, chagrin, gallant, the special sense of figure, etc.

Phil. Figure: As, what a figure of a man is there! Naive and naiveté.
Mel. Naive! as how?
Phil. Speaking of a thing that was naturally said, it was so naive; or such an innocent piece of simplicity, 'twas such a naiveté.
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    native
    Compare Old French naif, which also meant "woman born in slavery."...
    sophisticated
    c. 1600, "mixed with a foreign substance, impure; no longer simple or natural," past-participle adjective from sophisticate (v.). In reference to persons, and in a positive sense of "worldly-wise, discriminating, cultured," it is attested by 1895. Related: Sophisticatedly. The ea
    innocent
    mid-14c., "doing no evil; free from sin, guilt, or moral wrong," from Old French inocent "harmless; not guilty; pure" (12c.), from Latin innocentem (nominative innocens) "not guilty, blameless; harmless; disinterested," from in- "not" (see in- (1)) + nocentem (nominative nocens),
    faithful
    early 14c., "sincerely religious, devout, pious," especially in reference to Christian practice; mid-14c., "loyal (to a lord, friend, spouse, etc.); true; honest, trustworthy," from faith + -ful. From late 14c. in reference to a tale, a report, etc., "accurate, reliable, true to
    reason
    c. 1200, resoun, "the intellectual faculty that adopts actions to ends," also "statement in an argument, statement of explanation or justification," from Anglo-French resoun, Old French raison "course; matter; subject; language, speech; thought, opinion," from Latin rationem (nom
    so long
    parting salutation, 1860, of unknown origin, perhaps from a German idiom (compare German parting salutation adieu so lange, the full sense of which probably is something like "farewell, whilst (we're apart)"); or perhaps from or influenced by Hebrew shalom (via Yiddish sholom). S
    rap
    early 14c., rappe, "a quick, light blow; a resounding stroke," also "a fart" (late 15c.), native or borrowed from a Scandinavian source (compare Danish rap, Swedish rapp "light blow"); either way probably of imitative origin (compare slap, clap). Slang meaning "a rebuke, the blam
    hew
    Old English heawan "to chop, hack, gash, strike with a cutting weapon or tool" (class VII strong verb; past tense heow, past participle heawen), earlier geheawan, from Proto-Germanic *hawwanan (source also of Old Norse hoggva, Old Frisian hawa, Old Saxon hauwan, Middle Dutch hauw
    discriminate
    1620s, "distinguish from something else or from each other, observe or mark the differences between," from Latin discriminatus, past participle of discriminare "to divide, separate," from discrimen (genitive discriminis) "interval, distinction, difference," derived noun from disc
    delight
    c. 1200, delit, "high degree of pleasure or satisfaction," also "that which gives great pleasure," from Old French delit "pleasure, delight, sexual desire," from delitier "please greatly, charm," from Latin delectare "to allure, delight, charm, please," frequentative of delicere

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