# stimulus
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin stimulus (“goad, prick”).

### Pronunciation

* (US) IPA: /ˈstɪm.jə.ləs/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Noun

stimulus (plural stimuluses or stimuli)
* An external phenomenon that has an influence on a system, by triggering or modifying an internal phenomenon; for example, a spur or incentive that drives a person to take action or change behaviour.
    an economic stimulus
** 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 174:From the beginning of the show to the end, vanity is the sole stimulus and reward of action—vanity, that never looks beyond the present.
** 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times‎:Democrats, meanwhile, point out that Republicans seem to have made a conscious decision, beginning with the stimulus, to oppose anything the president put forward, dooming any chance of renewed cooperation between the parties.
* (physiology, psychology, medicine) Something external that elicits or influences a physiological or psychological activity or response, or that affects any of the sensory apparatuses.
** 2002, Kim Burchiel, Surgical Management of Pain, Thieme, →ISBN, page 44:Even light nonpainful stimuli can provoke or exacerbate spontaneous pain; this is not limited to tactile, thermal, or vibratory stimuli, because auditory, visual, olfactory, and visceral stimuli also may be problematic.
* (botany, entomology) A stinging part on the body of a plant or insect.
** 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 15:Many plants, like many animals, are furnished with arms for their protection; these are either aculei, prickles […] ; or stimuli, stings, as in the nettles, which are armed with a venomous fluid for the annoyance of naked animals.

#### Synonyms

* (anything that may have an impact or influence): influence; impetus, impulse, spur

#### Derived terms

* antistimulus
* chemostimulus
* contrastimulus
* costimulus
* counterstimulus
* discriminative stimulus
* external stimulus
* extrastimulus
* gravistimulus
* hyperstimulus
* interstimulus
* mechanostimulus
* microstimulus
* noxious stimulus
* peristimulus
* photostimulus
* Porkulus
* poststimulus
* poverty of the stimulus
* prestimulus
* stimulon
* stimulus check
* stimulus delta
* stimulus-response time
* superstimulus
* tristimulus

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

## Danish
### Etymology

From Latin stimulus.

### Noun

stimulus c (singular definite stimulussen, plural indefinite stimuli)
* a stimulus
** incentive, encouragement

#### Related terms

* stimulere

### Further reading

* “stimulus” in Den Danske Ordbog

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin stimulus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈsti.my.lʏs/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: sti‧mu‧lus

### Noun

stimulus m (plural stimuli, diminutive stimulusje n)
* stimulus

#### Related terms

* stimulans
* stimulatie
* stimuleren

## Esperanto
### Verb

stimulus
* conditional of stimuli

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin stimulus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /sti.my.lys/
* Audio (Paris):(file)

### Noun

stimulus m (plural stimulus or stimuli)
* stimulus

### Further reading

* “stimulus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Indonesian
### Etymology

From Dutch stimulus, from Latin stimulus (“goad, prick”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [stiˈmulʊs], [sə̆tiˈmulʊs]
* Hyphenation: sti‧mu‧lus

### Noun

stimulus (uncountable)
* stimulus
    Synonym: perangsang

#### Derived terms

* menstimulus
* terstimulus

### Further reading

* “stimulus” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Latin
### Etymology

Possibly from a Proto-Indo-European *(s)tey- (“sharp object”) that might also be found in stilus, stīva. This could be an unextended variant of the same root found in *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”), the source of Ancient Greek στίζω (stízō, “I mark”), although De Vaan is skeptical of the connection.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈsti.mu.lus/, [ˈs̠t̪ɪmʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈsti.mu.lus/, [ˈst̪iːmulus]

### Noun

stimulus m (genitive stimulī); second declension
* a goad, prick
* a sting
* (figuratively) stimulus, incentive

#### Declension

Second-declension noun.

#### Related terms

* stimulātiō
* stimulō

#### Descendants

Borrowings:
* → Catalan: estímul
* → Dutch: stimulus
* → English: stimulus
* → French: stimulus
* → Galician: estímulo
* → Italian: stimolo
* → Piedmontese: stimol
* → Portuguese: estímulo
* → Romanian: stimul
* → Russian: сти́мул (stímul)
* → Spanish: estímulo

### References

* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “stilus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 587

### Further reading

* “stimulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “stimulus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "stimulus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* stimulus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. to be spurred on by ambition: stimulis gloriae concitari to spur, urge a person on: calcaria alicui adhibere, admovere; stimulos alicui admovere
* “stimulus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From Latin.

### Noun

stimulus m (definite singular stimulus, indefinite plural stimuli, definite plural stimuliene)
* a stimulus

#### Usage notes

* By a 1995 spelling decision, Norsk språkråd permitted the regular plural forms stimuluser and stimulusene. These are scarcely used.

#### Related terms

* stimulere

### References

* ↑ Årsmelding 1995

### Further reading

* “stimulus” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
* “stimulus” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From Latin.

### Noun

stimulus m (plural stimulusen)
* a stimulus

#### Usage notes

* By a 1995 spelling decision, Norsk språkråd permitted the regular plural forms stimulusar and stimulusane. These are scarcely used.

#### Related terms

* stimulere

### References

* ↑ Årsmelding 1995

### Further reading

* “stimulus” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
* “stimulus”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

## Swedish
### Noun

stimulus c or n
* (physiology, psychology, medicine) stimulus

#### Usage notes

"Economic stimulus" is "ekonomisk stimulans."

#### Related terms

* stimulans
* stimulera

### References

* stimulus in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* stimulus in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* stimulus in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)