Passive character, passive person, passive view of things, passive account, passive income. What is passive? And what does it mean passively? Like this? Is this the same definition or not? Maybe these are homonymous words? By the way, what does the word “passive” mean? Let's figure it out step by step.
Word features
The adjective itself originates from the pre-Indo-European language from pei - “hurt”, “hurt”. From there it went into Latin and transformed into pati - “endure”, “endure”, “suffer”, “torment” - and, finally, the Latin passivus appeared - “receptive”, “passive”, “passive”.
Emphasis is placed on the second syllable: passive.
The radical part of the Slavophiles, who advocates the replacement of foreign words, offers the word "inactive" as an alternative. The direct meaning is devoid of an active principle. Thus, the answer to the question of what “passively” means is in the definition of “docile”. Passively - obediently obeying circumstances.
In accounting
The concepts of passive and active accounts are used in accounting very widely along with such definitions as debit and credit (they are sometimes called assets and liabilities). It is difficult to imagine the work of any organization without them.
But what does an active and passive account mean?
In simple terms, an active account is needed to account for the state, monitor the movement of company funds, and a passive account is an account of the sources of capital formation (including working capital) and the company's debt obligations (employee benefits, long-term and short-term loans).
About the nature of man
The best illustration for the definition of the word “passive” in Russian literature is Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. The hero, who prefers to spend days on the couch eating fatty foods and dreams, expresses the essence of the word. Oblomov represents the pinnacle of inactivity and lack of initiative, when Stolz, anonymous to him, embodies the pinnacle of practicality and lively activity, which allows him to describe the word-antonym to “passive” - “active”.
What does it mean to live passively? This means living along the river, obeying all circumstances and not trying to confront them. This lifestyle is often attributed to women in patriarchal culture as an image worthy of all imitation. In modern culture, people of any gender who lead a similar lifestyle are usually ridiculed.
Another curious phrase is also attributed to the character of a person. The one who seems to help acts in accordance with his ideals, but at the same time constantly expresses his dissatisfaction, secretly accuses others of not matching the generally accepted moral categories (good, justice), or otherwise makes you feel guilty, they call a person showing passive aggression.
In LGBT culture
Among other things, the concepts of “passive” and “asset” are used to indicate roles in homosexual couples. You can draw a parallel with the fact that in a patriarchal society a woman is supposed to be a “liability”, only shading her husband. At the dawn of the sexual revolution of the mid-20th century, it was assumed that men who, by some mistake of nature, differ in “female” behavior entered into homosexual relations. It is now known that homosexuality is not related to gender stereotypes, but the vocabulary of the time is still in use.
So what does passively mean in homosexual relationships? In male homosexual relationships, a “passive" is a partner who plays a leading role in sex. Previously, he was also credited with such qualities of character as humility, love of comfort, but now the term has been transformed and means exclusively sexual addictions.
These are far from all the meanings of the word “passive”.