adjectiv

Adjectiv is a term used in linguistic description for the word class that expresses properties and qualities of nouns. In most languages, adjectives modify nouns or pronouns and participate in the noun phrase, providing information about color, size, shape, age, or other attributes. The form and behavior of adjectives vary widely across languages. Some languages, including English, have largely invariable forms and use separate degree modifiers (more, most) to express comparison; others have rich agreement systems where adjectives change form to match the noun in gender, number, and case.

In typological grammars, adjectives can appear in attributive position (before the noun: a tall building) or predicative position (the building is tall); they may need to agree with the noun or use a fixed form. Many languages also allow adjectives to decline for case or to form distinct comparative and superlative degrees, either with suffixes or periphrastic constructions. Some languages distinguish adjectives from participles or use separate word classes for stative predicates, while others merge these functions.

Semantically, adjectives describe properties, relations, or categories and can be gradable (very tall), non-gradable, or part of compound expressions. They may be qualifying, classifying, or relational in meaning, and some languages permit adjectives to function as subordinate predicates or as nouns in certain contexts.

Etymology and terminology: the term derives from Latin adjectivus, related to adjectives in the familiar sense; cognates appear across European languages (for example, Adjektiv in German, adjektiv in several Scandinavian languages). In English-language linguistics, adjectival is used to denote the relation to adjectives or to describe adjectival phrases.