ergative Grammar [ 'ə:gətɪv ]
■ adjective
1》 (in some languages, e.g. Basque) relating to or denoting a case of nouns that identifies the doer of an action as the object rather than the subject of a verb.
2》 (in English) denoting verbs which can be used both transitively and intransitively to describe the same action, with the object in the former case being the subject in the latter, as in I boiled the kettle and the kettle boiled . Compare with inchoative .
■ noun an ergative word or the ergative case.
Derivatives
ergativity noun
Origin
1950s: from Gk ergatēs 'worker' (from ergon 'work') + -ive .