>>>>>>>>>It's my understanding that the word gullible is more appropriate, since it has the same meaning as we Europeans use the word naive.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>In English gullible has a negative conotation of being stupid or easily duped. Naive is softer more like unaware or trusting.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Maybe innocent is the closest match?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>we do retain the little used word "naif" meaning a person without knowledge of evil which retains more of the original French meaning. As others have said, in current English, naive has a connotation of gullible and implies being a bit dull-witted.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Innocent is indeed the closest match for the original meaning.
>>>>>
>>>>>How about spoken language? I assume that naif sounds totally similar to naive.
>>>>
>>>>It is a noun rather than an adjective and frankly it is used so seldom in spoken English I'm not sure most people would have any idea how to pronounce it. I think final sound is pronounced as an f rather than a v and it is pronounce more as one syllable as opposed to naive which is distinctly two syllables.
>>>
>>>In French naif (or naïf) is the masculin version of naive (or naïve).
>>
>>I meant naif as used in English - where it is a noun. ( wonder how the masc form became the noun and the female form the verb ? Probably something lost in the 12th century )
>
>Naif as a noun? That is rare. adjective is the more common use. Never seen it as a verb.

Look it up. Naif is used more commonly as a noun (a person who is naive) and naive as an adjective referring to such a person.

(admittedly rare to the point of being archaic, but not uncommon in 19th cent lit. )