Etymology

mismotivate

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Today it means: To motivate toward the wrong goal. Full definition →

English motivate ← Middle English motif ← Late Latin mōtīvum
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
  3. Proto-Germanic*missaz
  4. Proto-Germanic*missa-
  5. Proto-West Germanic*missa-
  6. Old Englishmis-
  7. Middle Englishmys-
  8. Englishmis-
  9. Anglo-Normanmotif
  10. Middle Frenchmotif
  11. Proto-Indo-European*m(y)ewh₁-
  12. Proto-Indo-European*m(y)owh₁éyeti
  13. Proto-Italic*moweō
  14. Latinmoveō
  15. Latinmōtus
  16. Late Latinmōtīvum
  17. Middle Englishmotif
  18. Englishmotive
  19. Englishmotivate
  20. English todaymismotivate

From mis- + motivate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.