To cause someone to feel eager, enthusiastic, or energetic; or to stimulate or activate something.
From Latin 'excitare', formed from 'ex-' (out) and 'citare' (to move or call). The word entered English in the 14th century with meanings of arousing or stimulating.
In physics, when you 'excite' an electron, you literally pump energy into it so it jumps to a higher orbital—it's the same word whether we're talking about emotions or subatomic particles! Both involve adding energy that causes a change of state.
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