Standard Lemma guide

naive

adj · noun · 10 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /naɪˈiːv/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /nɑːˈiːv/
  • General-American: /naɪˈiv/
  • General-American: /nɑˈiv/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːv
  • India, North: /nɑˈjiʋ/
  • India, North: [näː.jiːʋ]
  • India, South: /nəˈjiʋ/
  • India, South: [nɐ.jiːʋ]
  • CMU ARPABET: N AY2 IY1 V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Lacking worldly experience, wisdom, or judgement; unsophisticated.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Not having been exposed to something.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Produced in a simple, childlike style, deliberately rejecting sophisticated techniques.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Intuitive; designed to follow the way ordinary people approach a problem.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A naive person; a greenhorn.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adjective

Meaning 6

marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a teenager's naive ignorance of life
  • the naive assumption that things can only get better
  • this naive simple creature with wide friendly eyes so eager to believe appearances

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: naif

Antonyms: sophisticated

7

adjective satellite

Meaning 7

not initiated; deficient in relevant experience

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • it seemed a bizarre ceremony to uninitiated western eyes
  • he took part in the experiment as a naive subject

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: uninitiate, uninitiated

Antonyms: none provided

8

adjective satellite

Meaning 8

lacking information or instruction

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • lamentably unenlightened as to the laws

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: uninstructed, unenlightened

Antonyms: none provided

9

adjective satellite

Meaning 9

inexperienced

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

adjective satellite

Meaning 10

of or created by one without formal training; simple or naive in style

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • primitive art such as that by Grandma Moses is often colorful and striking

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: primitive

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from French naïve, feminine form of naïf, from Latin nātīvus (“native, natural”). Doublet of native.

Across languages

Translations

128 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: sylesh — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Albanian: makalush — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Arabic: سَاذَج (sāḏaj) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Arabic: صيدة (ṣēdə) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Armenian: միամիտ (miamit) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Armenian: պարզամիտ (parzamit) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Azerbaijani: sadəlöhv — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Basque: inozo — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Belarusian: наі́ўны (naíwny) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Bulgarian: наи́вен (naíven) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Catalan: ingenu — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Catalan: càndid — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Chinese Cantonese: 天真 (tin1 zan1) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Chinese Cantonese: 幼稚 (jau3 zi6) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Hakka Chinese: 天天 (thiên-thiên) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Chinese: 天真 (thian-chin) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Chinese: 幼稚 (zh-min-nan) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Chinese Mandarin: 天真 (tiānzhēn) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Chinese Mandarin: 幼稚 (yòuzhì) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Cornish: anfel — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Czech: naivní — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Danish: naiv — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Danish: enfoldig — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Dutch: naïef — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Dutch: tegen beter weten in — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Esperanto: naiva — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Finnish: naiivi — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • French: naïf — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • French: ingénu — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Galician: inxenuo — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Georgian: გულუბრყვილო (gulubrq̇vilo) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Georgian: მიამიტი (miamiṭi) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • German: unbefangen — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • German: naiv — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • German: blauäugig — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Greek: αφελής (afelís) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Ancient Greek: εὐήθης (euḗthēs) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Ancient Greek: ἀπειρόκακος (apeirókakos) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Hebrew: נָאִיבִי (na'ívi) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Hebrew: תָּמִים (tamím) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Hindi: अल्हड़ (alhaṛ) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Hungarian: naiv — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Ido: naiva — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Indonesian: naif — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Irish: soineanta — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Italian: ingenuo — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Italian: candido — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Italian: semplice — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Italian: spontaneo — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Italian: credulone — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Italian: sempliciotto — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Japanese: 無邪気な (mujaki na) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Japanese: あどけない (adokenai) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Korean: 순진하다 (sunjinhada) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Korean: 우직하다 (ujikhada) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Korean: 박직하다 (bakjikhada) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Lao: ໄຮ້ດຽງສາ (hai dīang sā) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Latin: credulus — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Latin: simplex — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Latvian: naivs — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Luxembourgish: naiv — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Macedonian: наивен (naiven) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Māori: tūpatokore — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Norwegian: enfoldig — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Norwegian Bokmål: naiv — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Norwegian Bokmål: godtroende — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: naiv — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Occitan: ninòi — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Pannonian Rusyn: наивни (naivni) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Persian: ساده لوح (sâde-lowh) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Persian: خام (xâm) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Persian: ببو (babu) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Polish: naiwny — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Portuguese: ingénuo — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Portuguese: ingênuo — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Romanian: naiv — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Russian: наи́вный (naívnyj) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Scottish Gaelic: soineannta — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Serbo-Croatian: на̏ӣван — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Serbo-Croatian: nȁīvan — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Slovak: naivný — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Slovene: naiven — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: cándido — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: ingenuo — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: panoli — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: caído del palto — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: caído del catre — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: caído del níspero — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: caído del zarzo — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: caído de la hamaca — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: caído de la cama — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: caído de la esfera — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: caído de la mata — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: incauto — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: crédulo — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Spanish: otario — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Swedish: naiv — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Swedish: blåögd — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Swedish: oskyldig — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Tày: bả — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Tày: bả slâư — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Thai: ไร้เดียงสา (rái-diiang-sǎa) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Thai: นาอีฟ — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Turkish: saf — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Turkish: naif — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Ottoman Turkish: ساده (sade) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Ottoman Turkish: طوی (toy) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Ukrainian: наї́вний (najívnyj) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Vietnamese: ngờ nghệch — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Vietnamese: ngây thơ — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Vietnamese: nai — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Yiddish: תּמימותדיק (temimesdik) — lacking experience, wisdom, or judgement
  • Bulgarian: простоду́шен (prostodúšen) — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Catalan: naïf — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Finnish: naivistinen — (art) simple, childlike style
  • French: naïf — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Galician: naíf — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Greek: ναΐφ (naḯf) — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Norwegian Bokmål: naiv — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: naiv — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Polish: naiwny — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Portuguese: naïf — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Russian: простоду́шный (prostodúšnyj) — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Turkish: naif — (art) simple, childlike style
  • Polish: naiwniak — naïf
  • Polish: naiwniaczka — naïf
  • Spanish: fesa — naïf
  • Spanish: ingenuo — naïf
Real reading context

naive in complete knowledge articles

Enni Id Arts & music · Challenging · 2 uses