Word: naïve (adjective)

Associations

The word "naïve" describes someone who is innocent, simple, or lacking experience and often too trusting. It can have a slightly negative meaning when it suggests a person is too trusting or unaware of the complexities of life.

• She was naïve to believe everyone would tell the truth. (Shows innocence or lack of experience.)
• The naïve child trusted strangers easily. (Shows innocence and simplicity.)
• His naïve questions showed he didn’t understand the problem. (Shows lack of knowledge or experience.)

Synonym: "innocent" is similar but often has a purer or more positive meaning, while "naïve" can sometimes suggest a lack of wisdom or worldliness.

Substitution

You can replace "naïve" with:

• innocent (more positive, less about experience)
• inexperienced (focuses on lack of experience)
• gullible (focuses more on being easily tricked, more negative)

Each word changes the meaning slightly:

• "Innocent" is more about purity or harmlessness.
• "Inexperienced" just means new or untrained.
• "Gullible" means easily fooled.

Deconstruction

"Naïve" comes from French, originally from Latin "nativus" meaning "native" or "natural." The two dots (¨) over the "i" are called a diaeresis and show that the "a" and "i" are pronounced separately: na-ï-ve (sounds like "na-eev"). This helps keep the original pronunciation.

Inquiry

• Can you think of a time when you or someone else was naïve? What happened?
• How is being naïve different from being simply inexperienced?
• Do you think being naïve is always bad? When might it be good?