partitive

UK: /ˈpɑːtɪtɪv/ US: (pär′ti tiv)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

par•ti•tive  (pär′ti tiv), adj. 

1. serving to divide into parts.
2. Grammar noting part of a whole:
   the Latin partitive genitive.

n. 

3. Grammar a partitive word or formation, as of the men in half of the men.

• Medieval Latin partītīvus divisive, equivalent. to Latin partīt(us), past participle of partīrī to divide (see party) + -īvus -ive
• 1510–20

par′ti•tive•ly, adv. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

partitive / ˈpɑːtɪtɪv/ adjective

1. indicating that a noun involved in a construction refers only to a part or fraction of what it otherwise refers to. The phrase some of the butter is a partitive construction; in some inflected languages it would be translated by the genitive case of the noun
2. serving to separate or divide into parts

noun

1. a partitive linguistic element or feature

Etymology: 16th Century: from Medieval Latin partītīvus serving to divide, from Latin partīre to divide

ˈpartitively adverb