Etymograph

English

revivify

Revivify comes from French revivifier ‘to revivify, bring back to life’, from vivifier ‘to vivify’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- ‘to live’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷeyh₃-1‘to live’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷih₃wós1‘alive’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gʷīwos1‘alive, living’reconstructed
  4. Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500vīvus2‘alive, living’
  5. Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500vīvificāre2
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentvivifier3‘to vivify’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentrevivifier4‘to revivify, bring back to life’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1851revivify4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin vivus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French vivifier
  3. 3 Wiktionary, French revivifier
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English revivify
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1851, Herman Melville, Knights and Squires: “His pure tight skin was an excellent fit; and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷeyh₃-Wiktionary, Latin vivus‘to live’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷih₃wósWiktionary, Latin vivus‘alive’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gʷīwosWiktionary, Latin vivus‘alive, living’reconstructed
  4. Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500vīvusWiktionary, French vivifier‘alive, living’
  5. Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500vīvificāreWiktionary, French vivifier
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentvivifierWiktionary, French revivifier‘to vivify’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentrevivifierWiktionary, English revivify‘to revivify, bring back to life’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1851revivifyWiktionary, English revivify. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1851, Herman Melville, Knights and Squires: “His pure tight skin was an excellent fit; and…”

Formed from re- + vivify

Proto-Italic *wre- ‘again’

English re-

Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- ‘to live’

…

Proto-Italic *gʷīwos ‘alive, living’

Latin vīvus ‘alive, living’

Late Latin vivificō ‘to vivify’

Old French vivifier ‘to vivify’

English vivify

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- ‘to live’

biology, kidney, vitamin, hygiene, viable, zodiac, vitality, anaerobic, quicken, quicksilver, quickness, biogenesis, wyvern, 57 more

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós ‘alive’

quick, couch, vital, vivid, vivacious, convivial, vivacity, 32 more

through Ecclesiastical Latin vīvus ‘alive, living’

vive, 5 more

Today it means

verb To reanimate, bring back to life.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “revivify”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin vivus, French vivifier, French revivifier. 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 *gʷeyh₃- / revivify

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