instinct的词源

英文词源

instinct

instinct: [15] The etymological notion underlying instinct (and also the closely related instigate) is of ‘goading onwards with a pointed stick’. Its ultimate source is Latin instinguere ‘urge onwards, incite’, a compound verb formed from the prefix in- ‘on’ and stinguere ‘prick, goad’. Source also of English distinct and extinct, this goes back to the same root, *stig-, as produced English stick and Latin stīgāre ‘prick, goad’, the ancestor of English instigate [16].

The noun derived from it, instinctus, originally meant ‘incitement, instigation’, but it eventually moved on to ‘impulse’, the sense it had when English acquired it. The more specialized ‘innate impulse’ developed in the mid 16th century.
=> distinct, extinct, instigate, stick

instinct (n.)

early 15c., "a prompting," from Latin instinctus "instigation, impulse," noun use of past participle of instinguere "to incite, impel," from in- "on" (see in- (2)) + stinguere "prick, goad," from PIE *steig- "to prick, stick, pierce" (see stick (v.)). Meaning "animal faculty of intuitive perception" is from mid-15c., from notion of "natural prompting." Sense of "innate tendency" is first recorded 1560s.

中文词源

instinct：本能，天性

in-,进入，使，-stinct,刺，词源同stick,distinct.其原义为刺激，推动，后引申词义天生的能力，本能，天性。

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：instinct 词源，instinct 含义。

instinct：本能，直觉；生性，天性

来源于拉丁语复合动词instinguere(用尖棒驱使,鼓动,煽动)的过去分词instinctus,进入英语时发展为"冲动,固有冲动"的意义。

词根词缀： in-在上面 + -stinct-刺 → 刺在身上