incentive

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ɪnˈsen.tɪv/, US /ɪnˈsen.t̬ɪv/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin incentīvum, the noun use of the neuter of Latin incentīvus, setting the tune, in Late Latin inciting,^[2][3][4] from incentus, past participle of incinere, to strike up, blow into an instrument,^[2][3][4] from in-, into, and canere, to sing (see chant).^[2][3] Word Origins notes its kinship with incantation.^[5][6] Etymonline suggests its sense was influenced in Late Latin by incendere, to kindle.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something that stirs the mind or incites to action: 1432–50 in the OED, probably before 1425 in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective, provocative or encouraging, is from 1603, in Holland's Plutarch;^[2][7] Milton used it to mean kindling, incendiary (1667).^[7][3] Of a system of rewards to encourage harder work, the adjective is first attested in 1943, in the jargon of the American war economy,^[3][7] and the noun, an incentive payment, from 1948.^[7][3]

Timeline

• 1432–50 – something that incites.^[7]
• 1603 – inciting (adjective).^[2][7]
• 1667 – kindling (Milton).^[7]
• 1943 – incentive pay.^[3][7]
• 1948 – an incentive payment.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something that encourages a person to act or work harder; a stimulus or motive.
2. An extra payment or benefit offered to increase output or sales.

Adjective

1. Serving to encourage or motivate: an incentive scheme.

Word family

• incentively
• counterincentive
• nonincentive
• incent
• incentivize

Related words

• incantation
• chant
• enchant
• cantor

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press