'apperceptive' is formed from the noun 'apperception', ultimately from Latin elements: 'ad-' (toward) + 'percipere' (to seize, to perceive), via New Latin/English formations.

'apperception' comes from Late Latin 'apperceptio' (from 'appercipere'), which entered philosophical and psychological vocabulary in early modern European languages; English 'apperception' and the related verb 'apperceive' gave rise to the adjective 'apperceptive' in 19th-century psychological usage.

Initially the root terms meant 'to seize or perceive,' and in scholarly usage came to mean 'the process of perceiving in relation to prior knowledge'; 'apperceptive' now means 'relating to that process' or 'having the capacity to assimilate new experiences into existing frameworks.'