1670s, "having the quality or function of creating," from create + -ive. Of literature and art, "imaginative," from 1816, in Wordsworth. Creative writing is attested by 1848. Related: Creatively.
Entries linking to creative
create v.
"to bring into being," early 15c., from Latin creatus, past participle of creare "to make, bring forth, produce, procreate, beget, cause," related to Ceres and to crescere "arise, be born, increase, grow," from PIE root *ker- (2) "to grow." De Vaan writes that the original meaning of creare "was 'to make grow', which can still be found in older texts ...." Related: Created; creating.
-ive
word-forming element making adjectives from verbs, meaning "pertaining to, tending to; doing, serving to do," in some cases from Old French -if, but usually directly from Latin adjectival suffix -ivus (source also of Italian and Spanish -ivo). In some words borrowed from French at an early date it has been reduced to -y (as in hasty, tardy).
creativity n.
"character or faculty of being creative," 1859, from creative + -ity. An earlier word was creativeness (1800).