Etymologically
Log in

provoke

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 15:29. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /pɹəˈvəʊk/[1]
  • US: /pɹəˈvoʊk/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English provoken,[2][3][4] partly borrowed from Old French provoquer, also provoker and provochier,[5][3][2][6] and partly directly borrowed from Latin prōvocō (“to call forth, challenge, rouse, appeal”).[5][3][6][7] Anglo-Norman had purvocher and purvocer from the first half of the 12th century, for inciting someone by a challenge or to violence.[5] The Latin verb is formed from prō- (“forth”) and vocō (“to call”),[4][5][8] which is related to vōx (“voice”), from Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- (“to speak”).[3][4] The OED compares Italian provocare (before 1292) and Spanish provocar (before 1428).[5] Klein compares convoke and invoke.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Barnhart's first record is from 1392, in medicine, "to induce, stimulate",[6] and Etymonline also gives this medical sense first.[3] The OED's first quotation is from before 1425, in the Northern Pauline Epistles (2 Corinthians 9:2), for urging a person to act.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was used in medicine, of bringing on sleep or vomiting or stimulating the appetite,[3][6] and of urging a person to action, the general sense dating from about 1400.[3][5] The sense of rousing someone to anger, which is now the main one, is recorded from about 1425, in Lydgate's Troy Book,[5] and that of calling forth a feeling or reaction from about 1450.[5] A second group of senses kept the Latin meaning "to call out": to challenge to a fight (1474–1706), to summon or invoke (1477–1713), and in law to appeal to a higher court (about 1500–1682).[5][7][2] Weekley compares the English call out for the old sense of challenging.[9] Johnson (1755) gave "to rouse; to excite by something offensive" as the first sense.[10] Gray's line "Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust?" shows the old sense of summoning.[11][9]

Timeline

  • 1392 – in medicine, to induce or stimulate.[6]
  • before 1425 – to urge a person to act.[5]
  • c. 1425 – to make angry, to vex.[5]
  • c. 1450 – to call forth a feeling or action.[5]
  • 1474 – to challenge to a fight (obsolete by 1706).[5]
  • 1477 – to summon or invoke (obsolete by 1713).[5]
  • 1661 – poetic, to stir up water.[5]
  • 1773 – noun, a provocation (now rare).[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make someone angry or irritate them, often on purpose: Don't provoke the dog by pulling its tail.[12][11][5]
  2. To call forth a feeling, reaction or action; to cause or evoke it: The decision provoked an outcry.[11][12][5]
  3. To incite or stimulate someone to act in a certain way.[12][5]
  4. (archaic) To stir someone to a desired feeling or action.[11][5]
  5. (obsolete, 1477–1713) To summon or call upon.[12][5][7]
  6. (obsolete, 1474–1706) To challenge someone to a fight.[5][7]
  7. (obsolete) In law, to appeal to a higher court.[5][7][2]

Word family

  • provokingly
  • provoker
  • overprovoke
  • provocation
  • provocative
  • unprovoked
  • convoke
  • evoke
  • invoke
  • provocateur
  • revoke
  • vocation
  • voice
  • vocal

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins