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arousal

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Etymology and origin of the English word arousal

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1826 Weekly Dispatch
Ultimate origin
English arouse,-al

Pronunciation

  • /əˈɹaʊzəl/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English arouse + -al, with the suffix that makes nouns of action.[2][3] Arouse, first used by Shakespeare in 1593, is formed from rouse with the prefix a-,[4][3][5] after such pairs as rise and arise, wake and awake.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of arousing, or the fact of being aroused: 1826, in the Weekly Dispatch.[2] Etymonline gives 1827,[3] and the 1989 edition of the OED had 1854.[7]

Semantic evolution

The noun took the senses of the verb, which since Shakespeare had meant to wake a person from sleep or inactivity;[2][4] from 1730 it also meant to stir up feelings.[2] Etymonline finds a sexual association from about 1900;[3] the OED records the sexual sense, originally a term of psychology, from 1948, in Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, the same year as the matching sense of the verb.[2] In modern use it also names a state of alertness of the brain and body, as in work on attention and emotion.[5]

Timeline

  • 1826 – the action of arousing or the state of being aroused.[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1827.[3]
  • 1948 – sexual excitement, as a phase of sexual activity, in Kinsey.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of arousing someone or something, or the state of being aroused: arousal from deep sleep.[5][2][8]
  2. Sexual excitement.[2][8]
  3. (psychology) A state of alertness and readiness to respond, involving the brain and body.[5]

Word family

  • nonarousal
  • overarousal
  • rearousal

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
Cite this entry

“Arousal.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/arousal. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·