To derive means to obtain or receive something from a source. When scientists derive a conclusion from their experiments, they're drawing it out from the evidence they've collected. When you derive pleasure from reading, you're getting that good feeling from the activity of reading itself.

The word often appears when tracing where something comes from. Many English words derive from Latin or Greek, meaning that's where they originated. A business might derive most of its income from online sales rather than its physical store. A river might derive its water from mountain snowmelt.

In mathematics, derive has a specialized meaning: finding a derivative, which measures how quickly something is changing. If you study calculus someday, you'll learn to derive equations that show rates of change.

The word suggests a process of extraction or tracing back to a source. When historians derive information from ancient texts, they're carefully extracting facts and understanding from old sources. A derivative work, like a movie based on a book, comes from and depends on the original source.