'Provoke,' 'evoke,' 'invoke,' and 'revoke' aresiblings — all from Latin 'vocare' (to call).
Definition
To stimulate or incite someone to a strong reaction, especially anger or action; to deliberately cause a response.
The Full Story
Latinlate 14th centurywell-attested
From Latin 'provocare' (to call forth, to challenge, to summon out), a compound of 'pro-' (forth, forward, publicly) + 'vocare' (to call, to name, to summon). The Latin 'vocare' traces to PIE *wekw- (to speak, to call out, to give voice), one of the central speech roots of the Indo-European family. The same PIE root producedSanskrit 'vakti' (he speaks
Did you know?
In ancientRome, 'prōvocātiō' was a legal right: any Roman citizen could 'call forth' an appeal to the people against a magistrate's sentence. The phrase 'prōvocātiō ad populum' was one of the cornerstones of Roman republican liberty — so before 'provoke' meant to anger someone, it meant to invoke your legal rights.
), Greek 'epos' (word, narrative — the source of 'epic'), Latin 'vox' (voice), 'vocabulum' (word, name), 'vocabularium' (vocabulary), 'invitare' (to invite — to call in), and 'invocere' (to call upon). The original Roman usage of 'provocare'