Etymograph

English

captivate

Captivate comes from Late Latin captīvātus ‘captured’, from Latin captīvus ‘captive, prisoner’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- ‘to hold’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-1‘to hold’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcapiō1‘to capture, seize’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaptīvus1‘captive, prisoner’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcaptīvō1‘to capture’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcaptīvātus1‘captured’perfect passive participle of captīvō
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1535captivate1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English captivate
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1535, Myles Coverdale: “Hir ſlippers rauyſhed his eyes, hir bewtye captyuated his…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kap-Wiktionary, English captivate‘to hold’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcapiōWiktionary, English captivate‘to capture, seize’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaptīvusWiktionary, English captivate‘captive, prisoner’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcaptīvōWiktionary, English captivate‘to capture’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcaptīvātusWiktionary, English captivate‘captured’perfect passive participle of captīvō
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1535captivateWiktionary, English captivate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1535, Myles Coverdale: “Hir ſlippers rauyſhed his eyes, hir bewtye captyuated his…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kap- ‘to hold’

had, head, case, heavy, except, behavior, capital, achieve, heavily, catch, capacity, captain, escape, chef, chapter, haven, acceptable, acceptance, behave, cabin, occupation, cape, chapel, hawk, cattle, capitol, chassis, capita, precipitation, cashier, mischief, capsule, chaplain, conceive, cad, mischievous, cassette, casket, haves, conceivable, 152 more

through Latin capiō ‘to capture, seize’

cash, receive, accept, chase, cop, cable, capable, recipe, recipient, reception, capture, perception, anticipation, susceptible, deception, anticipate, deceit, deceive, cater, deceptive, preoccupation, receivable, perceptible, preceptor, sashay, captor, 26 more

Today it means

verb To make (a person, an animal, etc.) a captive; to take prisoner; to capture, to subdue.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “captivate”. 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 *kap- / captivate

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