Incentive

How to spell incentive

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce incentive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does incentive mean?

1. nounSomething, often a reward or benefit, that encourages a person to act or work harder.

Incentive in a sentence

• The company offered a cash incentive for meeting the quarterly target.

• Tax relief acts as an incentive for households to install solar panels.

Where does incentive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin incentivum, meaning something that 'sets the tune' or stirs into action. It was built on incentivus, an adjective derived from the verb incinere, 'to strike up' or 'to sound a note', which itself joined the prefix in-, meaning 'into' or 'toward', with canere, meaning 'to sing'. In the original musical sense the incentive was the leading note that started a piece, and from this idea of 'setting something going' the sense broadened to anything that prompts or motivates. English took it in during the 1400s, at first as an adjective meaning 'provoking', and later as the familiar noun for a reward or stimulus that encourages effort. The same canere root sings inside relatives such as 'chant', 'accent', and 'cantata', and remembering that musical 'cent' in the middle helps fix the spelling.

How the word is built

• in- (toward, into)
• cent (from canere: to sing/sound a note)
• -ive (adjective/noun suffix)