cativo

English

Noun

cativo (plural cativos)

1. Prioria copaifera, a flowering tree of Central and South America.
   • 1999, George O. Poinar, The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World, page 15:

     Thrusting up into the canopy, competing for sunlight with the algarrobo, grew the cativo tree, whose modern descendants grow to 120 feet.

Galician

Cativos ("kids"), A Coruña, Galicia

Etymology

Etymology tree

substratebor.?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti

Proto-Indo-European *kaptós

Proto-Italic *kaptos

Latin captus

Proto-Indo-European *-wós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder.

Latin -īvus

Latin captīvusder.

Old Galician-Portuguese cativo

Galician cativo

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cativo, from Latin captīvus (“captive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈtiβo̝/

Noun

cativo m (plural cativos, feminine cativa, feminine plural cativas)

1. child, kid

   Os cativos teñen que enredar.

   The children must play.

2. captive, prisoner

Adjective

cativo (feminine cativa, masculine plural cativos, feminine plural cativas)

1. bad; of poor quality

   Está a chover; hoxe temos un tempo cativo

   It's raining; we have bad weather today

2. small

   Synonym: pequeno

3. hapless
4. needy

Related terms

• cativar (“to captivate”)
• cativeiro (“smallish; of poor quality”)
• cativerio
• catividade

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “cativo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, editor (2006–2013), “cativo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, Ernesto X. González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “cativo”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “cativo”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Further reading

• “cativo”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

substratebor.?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti

Proto-Indo-European *kaptós

Proto-Italic *kaptos

Latin captus

Proto-Indo-European *-wós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHwósder.

Latin -īvus

Latin captīvusder.

Old Galician-Portuguese cativo

Derived from Latin captīvus (“captive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈtiβo/

Noun

cativo m (plural cativos, feminine cativa, feminine plural cativas)

1. captive, prisoner
   • 1462, J. García Oro, “Viveiro en los siglos XIV y XV. La Colección Diplomática de Santo Domingo de Viveiro”, in Estudios Mindonienses, number 3, page 109:

     Iten mando a Triidade de sacar cativos de terra de mouros çincuenta maravedis.

     Item, I send fifty maravedis to the Trinity for releasing captives from the land of the Moors.

Related terms

• cativar
• catividade

Adjective

cativo m

1. hapless, unhappy, unfortunate

   Synonym: coitado

   • 1370, Ramón Lorenzo, editor, Crónica Troiana, page 452:

     Et a cabo de grã peça díssolle assý: -¡Ay, rrey Príamos, catiuo! ¿cõmo sodes tã louco et tã sen rrecado que nõ auedes coydado de uossa fazẽda?

     And after a long while he said to him like this: "Alas, hapless king Priam! How are you such a fool and so devoid of judgement that you take no care of your possessions?"

Descendants

• Galician: cativo
• Portuguese: cativo

Further reading

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “cativo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “cativo”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “catiuo”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaˈt͡ʃi.vu/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈti.vu/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈti.vu/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈti.bu/ [kɐˈti.βu]

• Hyphenation: ca‧ti‧vo

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese cativo, probably a semi-learned borrowing from Latin captīvus.

Noun

cativo m (plural cativos, feminine cativa, feminine plural cativas)

1. captive, prisoner

   Synonym: prisioneiro

2. slave

   Synonym: escravo

Related terms

• cativar
• cativeiro

Descendants

• Papiamentu: katibu
• Sranan Tongo: katibo
  • Aukan: katibo
  • Saramaccan: katibo

Etymology 2

Verb

cativo

1. first-person singular present indicative of cativar

Further reading

• “cativo”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “cativo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈtibo/ [kaˈt̪i.β̞o]
• Rhymes: -ibo
• Syllabification: ca‧ti‧vo

Etymology 1

Noun

cativo m (plural cativos)

1. Prioria copaifera, a tree of the American tropics.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cativo

1. first-person singular present indicative of cativar

Further reading

• “cativo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025