Excite

How to spell excite

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce excite

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does excite mean?

1. verbTo rouse strong feelings of eagerness, enthusiasm, or interest in someone.

Excite in a sentence

• The prospect of a long holiday seemed to excite the whole office.

• Loud fireworks tend to excite the dog and keep it barking.

Where does excite come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin excitare, meaning 'to call out', 'to rouse', or 'to stir up'. It was built from the prefix ex-, meaning 'out' or 'thoroughly', joined to citare, a verb meaning 'to set in motion' or 'to summon', which is itself a strengthened form of ciere, 'to move'. English took the word in the late 1300s by way of Old French exciter, at first in the sense of stirring people to action or rousing a feeling. The same citare root still hides inside everyday relatives such as 'cite', 'recite', and 'incite', all of which share the idea of calling or summoning. The spelling keeps the silent middle from its Latin parent, so the trap is hearing the soft 'c' and forgetting that 'cite' sits at its heart.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, thoroughly)
• cite (from Latin citare: to set in motion, summon)