invite

Pronunciation

• IPA: verb /ɪnˈvaɪt/; noun /ˈɪn.vaɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French inviter or directly borrowed from Latin invītāre (“to invite; to treat, entertain”),^[2][3][4][5] probably also a back-formation from invitation.^[2][6] The Latin is of uncertain origin;^[6] Barnhart and MWU analyse it as in- (“toward”) and a lost adjective *vītus “pleasant”, perhaps cognate with Sanskrit वीत (vītá, “loved, pleasing”) and Ancient Greek ἵεσθαι (híesthai, “to rush, long for”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

1533, in Sir Thomas More's writings, of a thing that offers inducements to a person;^[2][7] of a person, to ask someone kindly to come to a place or event, from 1553.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The Latin verb also meant to summon or challenge, and to feast or entertain.^[6] To ask someone to do something agreeable is from 1583,^[7] and to tend to bring on or lie open to, as in inviting criticism, from 1599;^[7] a person unintentionally encouraging something to come is from 1650.^[7] To request something courteously is from 1854.^[7] The noun, an invitation, is from 1659 in Barnhart and MWU, the 1650s in Etymonline,^[2][4][6] and is informal;^[8][9] Scots and south-western dialects used it too.^[10] The SOED has an early 17th-century noun meaning an attraction or bait.^[9] Invitation is older, about 1445.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1445 – invitation.^[2]
• 1533 – the verb, in Thomas More.^[2][7]
• 1553 – to ask someone to come.^[7]
• 1599 – to tend to bring on.^[7]
• 1659 – the noun, an invitation.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To ask someone politely to come somewhere or to do something.
2. To request formally: to invite applications.
3. To tend to bring on or provoke: to invite trouble.
4. To tempt or attract.

Noun

1. (informal) An invitation.

Word family

• inviter
• disinvite
• reinvite

Related words

• invitee
• invitation
• inviting
• vie

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 g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)