Where does “provocative” come from?
Provocative comes from Middle French provocatif, meaning "tending to provoke or incite."
provocative (English): Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often...
Definitions
- Serving or tending to elicit a strong, often...
Ancestry of “provocative”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle French | provocatif | — |
| 2 | Latin | provocativus | elicited |
| 3 | Latin | prōvocō | — |
| 4 | Latin | prō- | — |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | *pro- | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | pro- | toward, forward |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | por- | to give birth; forward, through; going, passage |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | per- | before, in front; first; to go through |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | pr̥tós | passed , crossed |
Words derived from “provocative”