irreflexive
|ir-re-flex-ive|
/ˌɪrɪˈflɛksɪv/
not reflexive; does not relate to itself
Etymology
'irreflexive' originates from Latin elements via English formation: the negative prefix 'in-' (appearing as 'ir-' before r) meaning 'not', combined with 'reflexive', which traces to Latin 'reflectere' where 're-' meant 'back' and 'flectere' meant 'to bend'.
'irreflexive' was formed in Modern English by adding the negative prefix 'ir-' (from Latin 'in-') to the adjective 'reflexive' (from Latin 'reflexivus', via Late Latin), producing the English adjective 'irreflexive' used in technical contexts (grammar, logic, mathematics) from the 19th–20th century onward.
Initially the Latin root conveyed the physical sense 'to bend back'; over time the English formation shifted to an abstract sense 'not reflexive' and then to specialized technical senses such as 'does not relate to itself' in mathematics and 'not taking a reflexive pronoun' in grammar.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
not reflexive; not turning back on oneself or not referring to itself.
The verb in that sentence is irreflexive: it does not take a reflexive pronoun.
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Adjective 2
in mathematics and logic: describing a binary relation R on a set S such that no element is related to itself (for all x in S, not x R x).
The 'less than' relation (<) on real numbers is irreflexive because no number is less than itself.
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Last updated: 2025/11/19 04:29