'animato' originates from Italian, specifically the word 'animato' (past participle of 'animare'), where 'anima' meant 'breath; soul' and 'animare' meant 'to enliven, give life.'

'animare' in Latin gave Italian the past participle 'animato', which was adopted unchanged into English musical terminology and became the modern English term 'animato'.

Initially, it meant 'animated; enlivened,' and in English it specialized as a musical direction meaning 'lively; with animation (often slightly faster)' while retaining the core idea of liveliness.