Etymology

motivate

M3O1T1I1V4A1T1E1

Today it means: To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate. Full definition →

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

  1. Anglo-Normanmotif
  2. Middle Frenchmotif
  3. Proto-Indo-European*m(y)ewh₁-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*m(y)owh₁éyeti
  5. Proto-Italic*moweō
  6. Latinmoveō
  7. Latinmōtus
  8. Late Latinmōtīvum
  9. Middle Englishmotif
  10. Englishmotive
  11. English todaymotivate

From motive + -ate (verb-forming suffix). Compare French motiver.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.