genitive

genitive (jen'itiv) [key][Lat.,=genetic], in Latin grammar, the case typically used to refer to a possessor. The term is used in the grammar of other languages, but the phenomenon referred to may not closely resemble a Latin genitive; thus a Latin genitive will be translated by a number of different cases in Finnish. Such forms in English as his and father's are said to be genitive, or, more often, possessive.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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