inanimate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin inanimātus (“lifeless”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} formed from Latin in- (“not”) and animātus (“animate”),^[2][3][4][5] the past participle of animō (“to give life to”),^[5][4] from anima (“air, breath, life, soul”).^[4] The classical adjectives were inanimis and inanimus, and post-classical Latin also had inanimālis and inanimāns.^[2] Compare French inanimé.^[4] The obsolete verb meaning "to animate" is borrowed from Late Latin inanimō (“to animate, encourage”), formed with another prefix of this form, meaning “in, into”.^[4][2][8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Without vital force, having lost life: Etymonline dates this to the early 15th century, and Barnhart to probably before 1425.^[2][3] The first quotation in the OED is from before 1555, in a letter of John Bradford printed in Foxe's Actes & Monuments.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The OED's sense "not endowed with animal life" sets off inanimate nature, everything that lacks sensation.^[4][8] A noun, an inanimate thing, is recorded from 1652.^[4] The sense "spiritless, dull" came in the 18th century: the OED has it from 1713, in Pope's Windsor-Forest, and Etymonline from 1734.^[4][2] In the 17th century a verb meant nearly the opposite, to animate or encourage: it is in a Scottish act of 1600 and in Donne, and Johnson (1755) noted that it was no longer used.^[4][9] A second verb, "to deprive of life", is known from a single translation of 1647.^[4] In grammar the adjective is also used of nouns for non-living things.^[10][5]

Timeline

• before 1425 – lifeless.^[3] The first quotation in the OED is from before 1555.^[4]
• 1600 – verb, to animate, to encourage (obsolete by 1670).^[4]
• 1610 – verb, to infuse life into (obsolete by 1679).^[4]
• 1647 – verb, to deprive of life (obsolete).^[4]
• 1652 – noun, an inanimate thing.^[4]
• 1713 – without the activity of life; spiritless, dull.^[4] Etymonline dates this to 1734.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not alive; lacking the qualities of living things: Stones and rivers are inanimate.^[10][11][5]
2. Lacking consciousness or any sign of life: They carried his inanimate form up the beach.^[11][12][5]
3. Lacking vitality; spiritless, dull.^[10][11][5]
4. (grammar) Belonging to the class of nouns for non-living things.^[10][5]

Noun

1. An inanimate thing.^[4][8]

Verb

1. (obsolete, 1600–1679) To animate; to encourage.^[4][5][9]

Word family

• inanimately
• inanimateness
• inanimation

Related words

• animate
• animation
• animal

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster