Skip to main content
PlainSpell

originate

ori·gi·nate/əˈɹɪd͡ʒɪneɪt/verb

originate is spelled O-R-I-G-I-N-A-T-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables (ori·gi·nate). It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 17,813th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, originate means “To cause (someone or something) to be; to bring (someone or something) into existence; to produce or initiate a person or thing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in originate?

Letters9: O-R-I-G-I-N-A-T-E
Syllables3: ori·gi·nate
In writing2.3 times per million words; the 17,813th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is originate?

Originate appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 17,813th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce originate?

  • US /əˈɹɪd͡ʒɪneɪt/
  • Australia /əˈɹɪd͡ʒɪnæɪt/
  • /əˈɹəd͡ʒənæɪt/

Originate has 3 syllables, split ori·gi·nate in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-originate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of originate

  • originates present, singular, he/she/it
  • originating participle, present
  • originated participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does originate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To cause (someone or something) to be; to bring (someone or something) into existence; to produce or initiate a person or thing.

    Einstein originated the theory of relativity.

  2. 2

    To come into existence; to have origin or beginning; to spring, be derived (from, with).

    The scheme originated with the governor and council.

adjective

  1. 1

    obsoleterareFounded on, having its origin in (something).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Originate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchinstituer (to give origin to, cause), venir de (to take first existence, have origin)
Germanentwickeln, erzeugen (to give origin to, cause), entstehen, entspringen (to take first existence, have origin)
Portugueseoriginar (to give origin to, cause)
Spanishoriginar (to give origin to, cause), originarse (to take first existence, have origin)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does originate come from?

From Medieval Latin orīginātus, perfect passive participle of orīginō (“to begin, give rise to”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more), from orīgō (orīgin- in compounds) + -ō. Compare Italian originare and Spanish originar. By surface analysis, origin + -ate.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after originate