エキサイト

14th-century English already had excite, and Merriam-Webster traces it through Anglo-French and Latin excitare, from ex- plus citare. English excite is mainly transitive in dictionaries: something excites a person, a reaction, a nerve, or an electric circuit. Japanese エキサイト comes from this English verb, and Kotobank lists it as a noun that takes する. Modern Japanese sports and entertainment writing made エキサイトする a compact verb for a person, crowd, game, or debate becoming intense. Digital Daijisen gives 興奮すること and 試合などが白熱すること, so the usage includes boxing, baseball, concerts, TV variety, and online comments. Related katakana words are エキサイティング, 興奮, 熱狂, and ヒートアップ. Today エキサイトした観客 means the spectators became excited. Collins defines English excite as arousing a person or a response. English cannot usually say the spectators excited unless an object follows; it needs were excited or got excited. Japanese also allows 試合がエキサイトする, where English would often use become exciting or get intense. The Japanese verb has much less of the English transitive requirement.