animate

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Middle English animat,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin animātus (“animated, spirited, living, alive”),^[5][6] the past participle of animō (“to give breath to, quicken, enliven”),^[2][4][5] from anima (“breath, life, soul”),^[2][7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *ane- (“to breathe”).^[2][8] The verb is borrowed from Latin animāt-, the past participial stem of the same verb,^[5][7][9] though Barnhart takes it as a use of the adjective; both adjective and verb existed in French before English, and French may have helped the verb into use.^[6][10] The Latin noun is related to animus (“spirit, mind”) and to Ancient Greek ἄνεμος (ánemos, “wind”),^[7][11][4] and Merriam-Webster also compares Old English ōþian (“to breathe”), Old Norse önd (“breath, life, soul”) and Gothic 𐌿𐌶𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌽 (uzanan, “to breathe one's last”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Endowed with life, living: before 1398, in John Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus's De Proprietatibus Rerum.^[5][10] The verb, to fill with courage, is first recorded about 1487, in Skelton's translation of Diodorus Siculus;^[5] Etymonline dates it to the 1530s and Barnhart to 1538, in Miles Coverdale.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

The verb followed the range of Latin animō, which meant both to give life and to give spirit or courage.^[5][2] In English the sense "to encourage" came first, followed by "to inspire, stir to action" (1532), "to give life to" (1533) and "to enliven" (1585);^[5] Etymonline dates "to give natural life to" only to 1742.^[2] The verb was also used in early chemistry, for giving an active power to a substance (1605–1733), and for magnetizing (1807–20).^[5] Animated pictures are mentioned by 1888, and cinematic cartoons by 1911;^[2] the sense "to make a film or images appear to move" is recorded from 1916.^[5] The adjective gained a grammatical sense, of words denoting living beings, in 1666, in John Eliot's grammar of an American Indian language, and the sense "lively" in 1801.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave the adjective as "alive; possessing animal life".^[12]

Timeline

• before 1398 – adjective, living, alive.^[5][10]
• c. 1487 – verb, to fill with boldness or courage.^[5] Etymonline dates it to the 1530s.^[2]
• 1532 – verb, to inspire or stir to action.^[5]
• 1533 – verb, to give life to, breathe life into.^[5] Etymonline dates it to 1742.^[2]
• 1585 – verb, to enliven.^[5]
• 1666 – adjective, in grammar, denoting living beings.^[5]
• 1801 – adjective, lively, animated.^[5]
• 1888 – animated pictures; animated cartoons by 1911.^[2]
• 1916 – verb, to make images appear to move by animation.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having life; alive or living: animate and inanimate objects.^[4][13][5]
2. Of animal rather than plant life.^[4]
3. Lively or spirited.^[13][5]
4. In grammar, denoting a living being.^[5]

Verb

1. To give life to; to bring to life.^[13][4][5]
2. To make lively; to enliven: Her stories animated the dull evening.^[13][5]
3. To encourage or inspire; to stir to action.^[13][4][5]
4. To make drawings, models or images appear to move, as in an animated film.^[13][5]

Word family

• animately
• animateness
• animatingly
• inanimate
• animatism
• interanimate
• reanimate
• semianimate

Related words

• exanimate
• animation
• animal
• animus
• anima

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins