Ok, that's helpful, thank you smile emoticon So its modern definition of "innate tendency" is 1560s but its ancient definition is "instigation, impulse" So, impulse. It comes from a place whose source we don't know. instinct (n.) early 15c., "a prompting," from Latin instinctus "instigation, impulse," noun use of past participle of instinguere "to incite, impel," from in- "on" (see in- (2)) + stinguere "prick, goad," from PIE *steig- "to prick, stick, pierce" (see stick (v.)). Meaning "animal faculty of intuitive perception" is from mid-15c., from notion of "natural prompting." Sense of "innate tendency" is first recorded 1560s.