DictionaryRoot: navigare
Latin
navigare
sail or travel by ship
Forms
- navigare
- navigat- — The form used for completed action.
Origin
Formed from Latin navis, “ship,” and agere, “drive or conduct.”
Note
Navigation later broadened beyond ships to other kinds of directed travel.
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verb
navigate
NAV-ih-gayt/ˈnævɪɡeɪt/
To plan or direct a route through an area.
Etymology
The Latin sailing verb underlies navigate, though its English formation may have been from navigation instead. The meaning moved from traveling by ship to steering one, then broadened to directing a course more generally.