Etymology

vacillate

V4A1C3I1L1L1A1T1E1

Today it means: To sway unsteadily from one side to the other; oscillate. Full definition →

Latin vacillātum
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived fromvacillātum
  2. English todayvacillate

From Latin vacillātum, supine form of vacillō (“sway, waver”). By surface analysis, Latin vacill- + -ate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.