invent (v.)

c. 1500, "to find, discover" (obsolete), a back-formation from invention or else from Latin inventus, past participle of invenire "to come upon; devise, discover." General sense of "make up, fabricate, concoct, devise" (a plot, excuse, etc.) is from 1530s, as is that of "produce by original thought, find out by original study or contrivance." Related: Invented; inventing.