Origin: Latin suffix -ive
Ablative has 5 different meanings across 2 categories:
the case indicating the agent in passive sentences or the instrument or manner or place of the action described by the verb
The ablative case.
relating to the ablative case
tending to ablate; i.e. to be removed or vaporized at very high temperature
"ablative material on a rocket cone"
Applied to one of the cases of the noun in some languages, the fundamental meaning of the case being removal, separation, or taking away, and to a lesser degree, instrument, place, accordance, specifications, price, or measurement.
The word comes from the Latin ablātīvus, meaning "expressing removal," which is derived from the verb auferō ("I take away"). A separate engineering and nautical sense developed later by combining the root ablate with the suffix -ive.