Etymology

motivative

M3O1T1I1V4A1T1I1V4E1

Today it means: motivating; serving to motivate Full definition →

English motivate ← 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. Englishmotivate
  12. English todaymotivative

From motivate + -ive.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.