Meaning

verb arouse or elicit a feeling

verb act as a stimulant

verb stir feelings in

originFrom Middle English exciten, from Old French exciter, from Latin excitō (“to call out, call forth, arouse, wake up, stimulate”), frequentative of excieō (“to call out, arouse, excite”), from ex (“out”) + cieō (“to call, summon”). See cite and compare to accite, concite, incite.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0