English
agitate
Agitate comes from Middle English agitat ‘set in motion’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eǵ-1root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500agitat1‘set in motion’
- Englishearliest quotation 1790agitate1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English agitate
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1790, Mary Wollstonecraft: “Your speech at the time a bill for the…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eǵ-Wiktionary, English agitateroot named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500agitatWiktionary, English agitate‘set in motion’
- Englishearliest quotation 1790agitateWiktionary, English agitate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1790, Mary Wollstonecraft: “Your speech at the time a bill for the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-
act, action, active, actual, suggest, activity, agency, actor, agent, strategy, essay, register, agenda, acre, gesture, digest, congestion, ambiguous, activate, agony, assay, squat, ambiguity, belligerent, axiom, agrarian, antagonist, ingestion, agile, progesterone, ingest, radium, agility, cogent, gestation, agonist, actuator, antagonism, samaj, actuation, 150 more
Today it means
verb To disturb or excite; to perturb or stir up (a person).
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “agitate”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- / agitate