Etymograph

English

provoke

Provoke comes from Latin provocō ‘to call forth, summon’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wokʷ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wokʷ-1reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvocō1‘call’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprovocō2as prōvocāre‘to call forth, summon’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600provoquer2
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1577provoke2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin provoco
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English provoke
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Historie of Englande: “In the meane time it chaunced, that Marcus Papyrius…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wokʷ-Wiktionary, Latin provocoreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvocōWiktionary, Latin provoco‘call’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprovocōWiktionary, English provokeas prōvocāre‘to call forth, summon’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600provoquerWiktionary, English provoke
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1577provokeWiktionary, English provoke. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Historie of Englande: “In the meane time it chaunced, that Marcus Papyrius…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wokʷ-

vocabulary, revocation, convocation, 24 more

through Latin vocō ‘call’

invite, invitation, advocate, vocational, vie, vocation, vouch, invoke, irrevocable, revocable, 33 more

Today it means

verb To cause someone to become annoyed or angry.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “provoke”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin provoco. 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 *wokʷ- / provoke

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