"V" Word Origins

vice versa

Latin

Latin, literally 'the position having been turned', from vicis 'position, turn' and versus, past participle of vertere 'to turn'.

vicecomital

Origin

From vice- + comital.

Vicente

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish and Portuguese Vicente. Doublet of Vincent.

vicereine

Origin

Borrowed from French vice-reine.

viceroy

Middle French

From Middle French vice-roy, literally "in place of the king."

Vichy

Latin

Named after the French town of Vichy, from Occitan Vichèi, itself derived from a Latin place name.

vicinity

Latin

From Latin vicinitas, "neighborhood," from vicinus, "neighbor," ultimately from vicus, "village."

vicious

Latin

From Latin vitiosus, "faulty, corrupt," from vitium, "fault, vice."

viciously

Origin

From vicious plus the adverb suffix -ly.

viciousness

Origin

From Middle English viciousnesse; equivalent to vicious + -ness.

Vico

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Vico.

Vicodin

Origin

A coined brand name, likely blending an element referencing the Roman numeral VI (since hydrocodone is roughly six times as potent as codeine) with "codeine."

vicomte

French

From French vicomte, related to English "viscount."

vicontiel

Origin

From Anglo-Norman vicontiel, from Middle French visconte (“viscount”) + -iel. Equivalent to viscount + -ial.

victim

Latin

From Latin victima, "sacrificial animal," via Middle French victime.

victimization

Origin

From victim + -ization or victimize + -ation.

victimless

Origin

Formed from victim plus the suffix -less, "without."

victimology

French

From French victimologie, formed from victim plus -ology, "the study of."

Victor

Latin

From Latin victor, "conqueror," from vincere, "to conquer" — also the source of the given name Victor.

Victoria

Latin

From Latin victoria, "victory" — the carriage and plum varieties were both named in honour of Queen Victoria of Great Britain.

Victorian

Origin · 1819

From the name of Queen Victoria (1819 to 1901) plus the ending "-an," which turns a name into an adjective — the same pattern as "Elizabethan" or "Edwardian."

victoriana

Origin

From Victoria + -ana (“collection”).

victorious

Latin

From Latin victoriosus, built on victoria ("victory"), itself from victor ("conqueror").

victoriously

Origin

From Middle English victoriously, vittoryously; equivalent to victorious + -ly.

victoriousness

Origin

From victorious + -ness.

victory

Latin

From Old French victorie, from Latin victoria, built on victor ("conqueror" or "winner").

victrice

Origin

From Middle English victrice, from Latin victrīx.

victrix

Origin

Learned borrowing from Latin victrīx. By surface analysis, victor + -trix.

victual

Origin

From Middle English vitaile, vitaylle (“food; food and drink, especially as needed for sustenance; (usually in the plural) food and drink stores or supplies; rations; provision of food and drink as a military stipend; crops”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman vitaile, vitaille [and other forms] and Old French vitaile, vitaille, victaille (“food, provisions, victuals”) [and other forms] (modern French victuaille), from Late Latin vīctuālia, the neuter plural of vīctuālis (“nutritional”), from Latin vīctus (“that which sustains life, diet, nourishment, provision”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Vīctus is derived from vīvō (“to live; to be alive, survive; to reside in”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns from verbs). The spelling of the modern English and French words has been influenced by Late Latin vīctuālia, though the pronunciation of the Middle English, Anglo-Norman, and Middle French words has been retained.

victualler

Origin

From Middle English vitailler, from Old French vitaillier; equivalent to victual + -er.

viddy

Origin

From video (“video recording”) + -y.

videlicet

Origin

Borrowed from Latin vidēlicet, which itself is a contraction of vidēre licet, meaning "it is permitted to see".

video

Latin

From the Latin verb videre ("to see"), with the ending "-o" added by analogy with "audio" — video is literally "I see" in Latin.

videogram

Origin

From video- + -gram.

videography

Origin

From video- + -graphy.

videotape

Origin

A combination of "video" and "tape" — originally a trademark of the media company Ampex before it became a generic term.

vidya

Origin · 1990

A jokey mispronunciation of "video" (as in "video games"), popularised online and said to trace back to a line from the 1990s sitcom King of the Hill.

vie

Origin

A shortened form of the older word "envy," worn down over time in English usage.

Vienna

German

From German Wien, tracing back through Old High German Wienna, possibly ultimately from a Celtic word meaning "wood" or "wild place."

vienne

Origin

Borrowed from French Vienne, from Classical Latin Vienna, further etymology uncertain. Doublet of Vienna.

Viennese

Chinese

From "Vienna" plus the ending "-ese," used to form adjectives and nouns describing people or things from a place (as in "Japanese" or "Chinese").

Viet

Origin

Borrowed from Vietnamese Việt, the traditional name of the Vietnamese people.

Vietcong

Origin

From Vietnamese Việt Cộng, a shortened form of Việt Nam Cộng sản ("Vietnamese communists").

Vietnam

Origin

From Vietnamese Việt Nam. The extended, figurative sense of "an unwinnable quagmire" comes directly from the Vietnam War.

Vietnamese

Chinese

From "Vietnam" plus the ending "-ese," which forms nationality words (as in "Japanese" or "Chinese").

view

Old French

From Old French veue, the feminine past participle of veoir ("to see"), which is also the ancestor of the modern French word vue.

viewer

Origin

Formed from "view" plus the agent-noun ending "-er," meaning "one who views."

viewfinder

Origin

From view + finder.