instigate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin īnstīgō (“to urge, set on, incite”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} through the participial stem īnstīgāt-.^[2][7][8] Barnhart and Etymonline think it may instead be a back-formation from the older noun instigation,^[9][10] recorded before 1410 as instigacioun, through Middle French instigation or directly from Latin īnstīgātiō.^[9] The Latin verb is formed from in- and an unattested *stīgō (“to prick, goad”),^[2][7][6] from Proto-Indo-European *steig- (“to prick, stick, pierce”),^[6][3][9] also written *(s)teig-.^[11] Cognates are Ancient Greek στίζω (stízō, “to stitch, tattoo, brand”),^[11][2][12] Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌺𐍃 (stiks, “point”)^[9][11] and Old English stician (“to prick, goad, stab”).^[6] Skeat connected the verb with stinguō (“to prick”).^[13] The Latin verb also gave French instiguer.^[10][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

To spur or urge on: 1542, in A. Borde's Compendyous Regyment.^[2][4][9]

Semantic evolution

The Latin verb's physical image of goading lies behind the English word, which was first applied to spurring people on to anything, though the OED notes that the object is now mostly something evil.^[2][7] That colouring was in place by the time of Johnson, who in 1755 defined it as urging to ill or provoking to a crime.^[14] In the 19th century the object could be the act rather than the person: to bring a thing about by incitement or persuasion, recorded from 1852, in Thackeray's Henry Esmond.^[2][7] This is now the sense that Collins lists first.^[15]

Timeline

• 1542 – to spur or urge on; to goad.^[2][4][9]
• 1852 – to bring about by incitement or persuasion.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bring something about by incitement or urging; to foment or set it going: The general was accused of instigating the mutiny.^[15][2][7]
2. To urge or goad someone on, usually to something drastic or wrong.^[15][4][2]

Word family

• instigation
• instigative
• instigator
• instigatingly
• uninstigated

Related words

• stick
• instinct
• stigma
• distinguish

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ 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.
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins