"V" Word Origins

virtue

Latin

From Latin virtus, meaning "manliness, worth, or moral excellence," from vir, "man."

virtuoso

Latin

Borrowed from Italian virtuoso, "virtuous, skilled," ultimately from Latin virtus, "excellence."

virtuous

Latin

From Anglo-Norman vertuous, ultimately from Latin virtus, "moral excellence." Related to virtue and virtuoso.

virtuousness

Origin

From Middle English vertuousnesse; equivalent to virtuous + -ness.

virulence

Origin

From Middle French virulence, from Late Latin virulentia.

virulent

Latin

From Latin virulentus, "full of poison," from virus ("poison").

virus

Latin · 1972

From Latin virus, meaning "poison" or "slimy liquid." The computer sense was popularized after appearing in David Gerrold's 1972 novel When HARLIE Was One.

vis

Latin

Borrowed directly from Latin vis, meaning "force" or "power."

vis-à-vis

French

From French vis-à-vis, literally 'face to face', from vis 'face'.

visa

Latin

From French visa, from Latin charta visa, "paper that has been seen" — from videre, "to see." Related to vision and video.

visage

Latin

From Anglo-Norman visage, ultimately from Latin visus, "sight, appearance," related to videre, "to see." Compare vision.

visaged

Origin

From visage + -ed.

viscacha

Origin

Borrowed from Spanish vizcacha, from Quechua wisk'acha.

visceral

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin visceralis, "internal," from Latin viscera, "internal organs."

visceroception

Origin

From viscero- + -ception.

visceromegaly

Origin

From viscero- + -megaly.

visceroptosis

Origin

From viscero- + ptosis.

viscerosensory

Origin

From viscero- + sensory.

viscoid

Origin

By surface analysis, visco- + -oid; evidently independently coined several times by several scientists in the late nineteenth through early twentieth centuries.

Visconti

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Visconti.

viscose

Origin

From Latin viscōsus, from viscum (“birdlime”); by surface analysis, visco- + -ose. Doublet of viscous.

viscosity

Latin

From Latin viscosus "sticky", from viscum, the sticky birdlime made from mistletoe berries.

viscotoxin

Origin

From Viscum (“mistletoe genus”) and toxin.

viscount

Medieval Latin

From Anglo-Norman viscounte, from Medieval Latin vicecomes, literally "vice-count" — built from vice- and count.

viscountess

Origin

From Middle English viscountes, viscountesse, probably from Middle French viscontesse; equivalent to viscount + -ess. Doublet of vicomtesse.

viscous

Late Latin

From Late Latin viscosus, from Latin viscum, "birdlime," a sticky substance made from plants.

viscus

Origin

From Latin vīscus (“any internal organ of the body”).

vise

Latin

From Old French vis, "screw," ultimately from Latin vitis, "vine" — likely referencing the spiral shape of a screw thread.

Vishal

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit विशाल (vishala), meaning "large" or "vast."

Vishnu

Sanskrit

Transliterated from Sanskrit विष्णु (vishnu).

Vishwamitra

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit विश्वामित्र (vishvamitra).

visibility

Late Latin

From visible plus the noun-forming suffix -ity, via Late Latin visibilitas.

visible

Late Latin

From Old French visible, from Late Latin visibilis, "able to be seen," from Latin videre, "to see."

visibleness

Origin

From visible + -ness.

visibly

Origin

From visible plus the adverb suffix -ly.

vision

Latin

From Old French vision, from Latin visio, "a seeing," from videre, "to see."

visionary

Origin

From vision plus the adjective-forming suffix -ary.

visit

Latin

From Old French visiter, from Latin visito, "to go to see," from videre, "to see."

visitant

Origin

From French visitant, present participle of visiter.

visitation

Latin

From Anglo-Norman visitacioun, from Latin visitatio, from visitare, "to visit."

visitor

Latin

From Middle English visiter/visitour, from Old French visitëor, ultimately from Latin visitare, "to go see repeatedly" — built on the same root as visit.

visor

Old French

From Middle English viser, from Old French visiere — related to French visage, "face."

vista

Italian

Borrowed from Italian vista, "view, sight," from vedere, "to see" — related to vision and video.

visual

Late Latin

From Late Latin visualis, "of sight," from Latin visus, "sight" — from videre, "to see."

visualise

Origin

From visual + the suffix -ise, the everyday British alternative to -ize.

visualize

Origin

From visual + -ize, "to make or do the thing described by the adjective."

visually

Origin

From visual + -ly.

vita

Latin

From Latin vita, "life."