Other forms: instincts
Instinct is the inborn knowledge of what to do that no one ever taught you. Act on instinct, a mother's instinct, survival instinct.
In animals it names behaviour that appears without learning — a spider spins a web correctly the first time. In people the word is used loosely for fast judgement built on experience, which is not the same thing at all. Note that the Latin means to prick or incite.
1nouninstinctInborn knowledge of what to do without being taught.
“Baby turtles follow their instinct and head straight for the sea.”
instinct is an inborn tendency.
Latin instinctus comes from instinguere, to incite — in plus stinguere, to prick. Distinct and extinguish come from related pricking.
Latin
īnstīnctus
English, today
instinct
Built from
From Latin īnstīnctus, past participle of īnstinguō (“to incite, to instigate”), from in (“in, on”) + stinguō (“to prick”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA