naïf

English

Alternative forms

• naif

Etymology

Borrowed from French naïf. Doublet of native and neif.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nɑːˈiːf/
• Rhymes: -iːf

Adjective

naïf (comparative more naïf, superlative most naïf)

1. Naive.
   • 1947, S.E. Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Little, Brown, & Company, page 5:

     Doenitz was naïf to assume that England would have stood idly by while Germany built up her U-boat force to four figures; but it was true enough that the German Navy was unprepared for a submarine war.

Usage notes

Rarely, both naïf and naïve are used, the latter specifically for women, following French usage.

Derived terms

• semi-naïf

Noun

naïf (plural naïfs)

1. One who is naive.
   • 2008, Monte Dwyer, Red In The Centre: The Australian Bush Through Urban Eyes, Monyer Pty Ltd, page 145:

     Now I could see there was no real rogue here, but a naïf who thought that world would always turn for him.

   • 2021 April 12, Carrie Battan, “Taylor Swift Wins with “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)””, in The New Yorker‎:

     On “Fearless,” Swift sharpened her lyrical specificity, using proper nouns and detailed renderings of conversations and experiences to create an indelible image of Taylor Swift, the savvy naïf.

Translations

Anagrams

• Fain, an if, fain, fina

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French naïf, inherited from Latin nātīvus. Doublet of natif. Semantical shift from "original; natural; simple" to "simple-minded".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na.if/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

naïf (feminine naïve, masculine plural naïfs, feminine plural naïves)

1. naive, dewy-eyed; gullible

   Il est vraiment naïf, il a gobé tout ce qu’ils lui ont raconté.

   He is really naive; he swallowed everything that they told him.

   • 1923, Marcel Proust, translated by Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff, La prisonnière:

     Habituellement, on déteste ce qui nous est semblable, et nos propres défauts vus du dehors nous exaspèrent. Combien plus encore quand quelqu’un qui a passé l’âge où on les exprime naïvement et qui, par exemple, s’est fait dans les moments les plus brûlants un visage de glace, exècre-t-il les mêmes défauts, si c’est un autre, plus jeune, ou plus naïf, ou plus sot, qui les exprime !

     As a general rule, we detest what resembles ourself, and our own faults when observed in another person infuriate us. How much the more does a man who has passed the age at which we instinctively display them, a man who, for instance, has gone through the most burning moments with an icy countenance, execrate those same faults, if it is another man, younger or simpler or stupider, that is displaying them.

Related terms

• né
• naître

Descendants

• → Dutch: naïef
• → English: naïf
• → Greek: ναΐφ (naḯf)
• → Italian: naïf
• → Malay: naif
• → Portuguese: naïf
• → Spanish: naif
• → Turkish: naif

Further reading

• “naïf”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• afin

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French naïf. Doublet of nativo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naˈif/
• Rhymes: -if
• Hyphenation: na‧ï̀f

Adjective

naïf (invariable)

1. naive

Noun

naïf m (invariable)

1. a naive person

Anagrams

• anfi-, fian, fina