"V" Word Origins

vac

Origin

A shortened, informal form of "vacuum."

Vaca

Spanish

From Spanish Vaca.

vacancy

Late Latin

From Late Latin vacantia, related to vacant.

vacant

Latin

From Old French vacant, from Latin vacans ("being empty").

vacate

Latin

From Latin vacare ("to be empty, to be unoccupied"); the legal sense of "annul" came first in English, with "move out of" developing later.

vacation

Latin

From Old French vacation, from Latin vacatio ("freedom from duty"), from vacare ("to be free, to be empty").

vacay

Origin

Clipping of vacation, with -y to clarify pronunciation. Compare cray (“crazy”).

vaccinate

Latin

From "vaccine" plus the verb-forming suffix "-ate" — ultimately traced back to Latin vacca, "cow," because the first vaccines used cowpox material.

vaccination

Latin · 1798

Coined from "vaccinia" (cowpox), from Latin vacca ("cow"). The physician Edward Jenner introduced the term in 1798 after using cowpox material to protect people from smallpox.

vaccine

Latin · 1700

From Latin vaccinus, "of a cow," from vacca ("cow"). Edward Jenner coined the related Latin term variolae vaccinae ("cowpox") in the late 1700s, after using cowpox material to protect people against smallpox.

vacillate

Origin

From Latin vacillātum, supine form of vacillō (“sway, waver”). By surface analysis, Latin vacill- + -ate.

vacillatory

Origin

From vacillate + -ory.

vacuity

Origin

From Latin vacuitās (“empty space, vacancy, vacuity”); equivalent to vacu(ous) + -ity.

vacuous

Origin

Learned borrowing from Latin vacuus (“empty, vacant”) + -ous.

vacutainer

Origin

Blend of vacuum + container, originally a trademark.

vacuum

Latin

From Latin vacuum, "empty space," from vacuus ("empty"). The cleaning sense comes from the suction action of a vacuum cleaner, which mimics pulling air (and dirt) into an empty space.

vacuumlike

Origin

From vacuum + -like.

vada

Hindi

The food sense comes from Hindi वड़ा (vaṛā). The slang "to look" sense comes from Polari, the historic British slang associated with theatre and gay subculture.

Vadim

Russian

A Transliteration of Russian Вадим (Vadim).

vadym

Origin

Transliteration of Ukrainian Вади́м (Vadým).

vag

Origin

A clipped form of "vagina" (for the anatomical sense) and of "vagrant/vagrancy" (for the arrest sense) — two unrelated words shortened to the same slang term.

vagabond

Late Latin

From Old French vagabond, from Late Latin vagabundus, from Latin vagari ("to wander"). Related to "vague," which comes from the same wandering root.

vagary

Origin

From Italian vagare (“wander”) and/or its source Latin vagārī (“to wander”), from Latin vagus (“wandering”). Later apparently reinterpreted in English as vague + -ery but without changing the spelling. By surface analysis, Latin vag(us) + -ary.

vagina

Latin

Borrowed directly from Latin vagina, meaning "sheath" — the same word used for a sword's scabbard.

vaginal

New Latin

From New Latin vaginalis, from vagina ("sheath; the vagina") plus the adjective-forming suffix "-alis."

vaginoid

Origin

From vagina + -oid (“resembling”).

vagrancy

Origin

From "vagrant" plus the noun-forming suffix "-cy."

vagrant

Latin

From Late Middle English vagraunt, likely from Anglo-Norman vagarant, probably influenced by Latin vagari ("to wander, roam").

vague

Latin

From Latin vagus, meaning "wandering, uncertain" — the same root that gives us "vagrant" and "vagabond."

vahan

Origin

From Armenian Վահան (Vahan).

Vai

Origin

Transliteration of Bengali ভাই (bhai). Doublet of bhai; see there for more doublets.

vail

Latin

From Old French vail, from valoir ("to be worth"), from Latin valere ("to be worth").

vain

Latin

From Old French vain, from Latin vanus, meaning "empty."

vainglorious

Origin

From Middle English veinglorious, from Old French vain glorios, from Latin vānus (“empty”) + glōriōsus.

Vaishali

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit वैशाली (vaiśālī).

val

Origin

A shortening of the brand name "Valium."

Valdes

Spanish

From Spanish Valdés, from Asturian Valdés.

Valdez

Spanish

From Spanish Valdez, from Asturian Valdés.

vale

Latin

From Old French val ("valley"), from Latin vallis. It displaced the native Old English word "dell" in this sense.

valediction

Origin

First attested in 1614; borrowed from New Latin valedictiō, from valedīcō (“to bid farewell”) + -tiō, from valē (“farewell, so long”) + dīcō (“to say”). By surface analysis, valedict + -ion.

valedictorian

Origin · 1759

Formed in 1759 from "valedictory" (a farewell speech) plus the suffix "-an."

valedictory

Origin

From Latin valedictum + English -ory (suffix forming nouns meaning ‘that which pertains to’, or adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Valedictum is the accusative supine of valedīcō (“to bid farewell; to give a valediction”), from valē (“farewell, goodbye”) (the imperative of valeō (“to be healthy or well; to be strong; to have influence or power”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“powerful, strong; to rule”)) + dīcō (“to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- (“to point out”)). By surface analysis, valedict + -ory.

valence

Latin

From Latin valentia 'strength, capacity', from valere 'to be strong'.

Valencia

Latin

Named after the Spanish city of Valencia, itself from Latin Valentia ("strength, vigour").

valency

Origin

From Late Latin valentia and Latin valentia (“bodily strength; health; vigour”) + English -y (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state). Valentia is derived from valēns (“healthy, strong, vigorous”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns); while valēns is the present active participle of valeō (“to be healthy, sound, or well; to be strong; to have influence or power, etc.”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“to rule; powerful, strong”). Sense 1 (“combining capacity of an atom”) and sense 3 (“number of arguments a verb can have”) are possibly from valence + -y.

Valens

Latin

From Latin Valens.

Valenti

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Valenti.

Valentina

Latin

From the Latin "valens," meaning strong or vigorous.