attract
/əˈtrækt/·어트랙트·verb
to draw toward; to appeal to
LatinCEFR B1
Root
at- (to, toward) + Latin 'trahere' (to pull, draw)
Latin attrahere (draw toward) → Middle French attraire → English attract
In a word
at- (toward) + tract (pull) = 'pull toward oneself'. The tract family splits by direction of pull — at- (toward) → attract, ex- (out) → extract, sub- (under) → subtract. A tractor is, simply, "the pulling machine" — Latin rolling through every farm field.
Examples
Honey attracts bees.
The festival attracts thousands of tourists.
Her smile attracted everyone's attention.
Related
extractsubtracttractorattractiondistract