Etymologically
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animation

Etymology and origin of the English word animation

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1597
Borrowed from
Latin animatio
Ultimate origin
Latin (animo)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˌæn.ɪˈmeɪ.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin animatio (“an animating”), from the past participle stem of animāre (“to give breath to; to give courage to”) (see animate),[2][3][4] from anima (“breath, life”), from PIE Proto-Indo-European *ane- (“to breathe”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of imparting life: 1597 in the OED and MWU, the 1590s in Etymonline; this sense is now obsolete.[5][3][2] SOED and NODE record encouragement or inspiration from the mid-16th century.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The state of being alive, vitality, is from 1615, the sense in suspended animation.[5][2] Liveliness of manner is from 1790, and enlivenment from 1818;[5] NODE dates the sense liveliness from the early 19th century.[6] The making of moving cartoon pictures in film is from 1912,[2] and computer animation followed.[7][8]

Timeline

  • 1597 – imparting life.[5][3]
  • 1615 – vitality.[5]
  • 1790 – liveliness.[5]
  • 1912 – cartoon films.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The technique of making films in which drawings, models or computer images appear to move.
  2. An animated film; a cartoon.
  3. Liveliness and energy; vivacity.
  4. The state of being alive.

Word family

  • claymation
  • animate
  • animator
  • animal
  • animus
  • inanimate
  • unanimous

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Animation.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/animation. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·