"V" Word Origins

vase

Latin

Borrowed from French vase, from Latin vas, "vessel" — the same Latin root behind "vascular" and "vasectomy."

vasectomy

Origin

Built from "vas" (short for vas deferens, the tube carrying sperm) plus the medical suffix "-ectomy," meaning "surgical removal."

vaseline

German · 1872

A trademark name combining German Wasser ("water") and Greek elaion ("oil"), registered by chemist Robert Chesebrough in 1872. It has since become genericized, the way "hoover" or "thermos" did.

vasiform

Origin

From Latin vāsi- + -form. By surface analysis, vas + -iform.

Vasily

Greek

From Greek "basileus," meaning king.

vasquine

Origin

From French vasquine. Compare Spanish basquiña.

vassal

Medieval Latin

From Old French vassal, going back through Medieval Latin vassallus ("servant") to a Celtic word for a young man or squire.

vassalage

Origin

From Old French vassalage (French vasselage), from vassal.

vast

Latin

From Latin vastus, meaning "empty" or "immense" — the same root that gives us "waste" and "devastate."

vastly

Origin

Formed from vast plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly.

vastness

Origin

Formed from vast plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

Vasu

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit वसु (vásu, “dwelling, dweller”).

vat

Old English

From Old English fæt ("vessel"); the "v" spelling came from a dialect variant, the same shift that turned "fox" into "vixen" in some regions.

Vatican

Latin

From Latin Vaticanus, the name of one of Rome's seven hills, where the Vatican was later built. The exact origin of the hill's name is unknown, though it was later folk-linked to a Latin verb for prophesying.

vaticinate

Origin

From Latin vāticinātus, perfect passive participle of vāticinor (“foretell, prophesy”).

vaticinator

Origin

Latin

vato

Spanish

From Mexican Spanish slang, tracing back to chivato, and used mainly in northwestern Mexican states like Sinaloa and Sonora before spreading into Chicano English.

vaudeville

French

Borrowed from French vaudeville, originally referring to light satirical songs.

Vaughan

Welsh

From the Welsh "bychan," meaning small.

Vaughn

Welsh

A variant of Vaughan, from Welsh bychan (“small”).

vault

Latin

From Old French volte ("a turn"), tracing back to Latin volvere ("to roll, to turn") — the arched shape of a vault resembles a turned or rolled curve.

vaultful

Origin

From vault + -ful.

vaunt

Origin

From Middle English vaunten, from Anglo-Norman vaunter, variant of Old French vanter, from Latin vānus (“vain, boastful”).

vaunter

Origin

From vaunt + -er, perhaps a calque of Old French vanteor.

vauntingly

Origin

From vaunting + -ly.

Vauxhall

Origin · 1200

Traced to "Faulke's Hall," the manor of Falkes de Breauté, a 13th-century mercenary captain, which was gradually reshaped into "Vauxhall."

Vayu

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit वायु (Vāyú).

VC

English

An initialism of venture capital or venture capitalist.

ve

Russian

The pronoun sense was coined in English; the letter name is borrowed from Russian вэ.

veal

Latin

From Anglo-Norman veel, ultimately from Latin vitulus ("calf") — the same root that gives us "vitellus," the biological term for egg yolk.

vector

Latin · 1846

A learned borrowing from Latin vector ("carrier"), from vehere ("to carry") — the same root as "vehicle." The math sense was coined by Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.

Veda

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit veda, meaning "knowledge."

vee

Origin

A phonetic spelling of the letter name "V."

veena

Persian

From Sanskrit vina, related to an old Persian word for a similar lute-like instrument.

veer

Dutch

Borrowed from Middle Dutch vieren, meaning "to slacken" (originally about letting out a rope or sail-line).

veg

Origin

A clipped, informal form of "vegetable," "vegetarian," or "vegetate."

Vega

Medieval Latin

From Arabic al-nasr al-waqi' ("the falling eagle"), the old name for the constellation, via Medieval Latin.

vegan

Origin · 1944

Coined in 1944 by Donald Watson, founder of the Vegan Society, as a shortened form of "vegetarian."

Vegas

Origin

A clipped form of "Las Vegas."

vegetable

Latin

From Latin vegetabilis ("able to grow, thriving"), from vegetare ("to enliven") — related distantly to words like "vigor" and "vigil."

vegetal

Origin

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin vegetālis, from Latin vegetō.

vegetarian

Origin · 1847

Formed from "vegetable" plus the suffix -arian; the word spread after the British Vegetarian Society was founded in 1847.

vegetation

Medieval Latin

Borrowed from French végétation, from Medieval Latin vegetationem, related to the same root as "vegetable."

vegetational

Origin

From vegetation + -al.

vegetative

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin vegetativus, related to vegetare ("to enliven"), same root family as "vegetable" and "vegetation."

veggie

Origin

An informal clipping of "vegetable" or "vegetarian" with the diminutive -ie ending.

vehemence

Origin

From Middle English vehemens, vemance, from Old French vëemence, vehemence, from Latin vehementia (“eagerness, strength”), from vehemens (“eager”).

vehement

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French vehement (modern French véhément; compare Italian veemente, Portuguese veemente, Spanish vehemente); or from Latin vehemēns (“vehement; very eager; ardent, furious, impetuous; emphatic”), probably from vē- (“lacking, too little”) + mēns (“mind; intellect; judgment, reasoning”).