naive

Etymology

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

adj

1. Lacking worldly experience, wisdom, or judgement; unsophisticated.
   I am sixteen going on seventeen, I know that I'm naive 1965, Richard Rogers, Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics and music), “Going on Seventeen”, in The Sound of Music
   The salarians believed the genophage would be used as a deterrent, a position the turians viewed as naive. Once the project was complete, the turians mass produced and deployed it. The krogan homeworld, their colonies, and all occupied worlds were infected. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Krogan: Genophage Codex entry
2. Not having been exposed to something.
   Animals entering shelters are either (a) immunologically naïve and susceptible to infection and development of disease if exposed to pathogens; (b) already immune […] 2011, Lila Miller, Kate Hurley, Infectious Disease Management in Animal Shelters
3. (of art) Produced in a simple, childlike style, deliberately rejecting sophisticated techniques.
   By 1921 when Miró painted his key work, naive painting had been recognized by the avantgarde art world as a genre in its own right. 2006, Janis Mink, Joan Miró, page 33
4. (computing) Intuitive; designed to follow the way ordinary people approach a problem.
   We have experiments of running our matching algorithm and a naive matching algorithm for such a term tree and a tree, and have compared the performance of the two algorithms. 2007, Takao Terano, Huan Liu, Arbee L.P. Chen, Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining

noun

1. A naive person; a greenhorn.
   As a seasoned woman—of nineteen—I felt it was my place to tell each of these naïves that such plans were easier made than followed. 2010, Daphne Oz, The Dorm Room Diet
   In other words, they'd buy securities from these naives for 55 and sell them similar securities for 65. In plain English, they'd pay $550 per $1,000 bond and turn right around and sell them similar stuff for $650. 2018, King Midas, Stupid Brokers - Stupid Clients