Etymologically
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vegetarian

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /vɛ.d͡ʒɪˈtɛə.ɹi.ən/, /ˌvɛ.d͡ʒɪˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ən/[1]
  • US: /vɛ.d͡ʒɪˈtɛ.ɹi.ən/[1]

Etymology

It is formed irregularly from English vegetable + -arian, taking only the first part of vegetable,[2][3][4] with the suffix of words such as agrarian and trinitarian.[3][4] Vegetable goes back through Old French vegetable (“living, fit to live”) to Medieval Latin vegetābilis (“growing, flourishing”), from Latin vegetō (“to enliven”), from vegetus (“lively, active”), from vegeō (“to be alive, active”).[3] The OED compares German Vegetarier (1852) and Vegetarianer (1853), and French végétarien (1875).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who abstains from animal food and lives mainly or wholly on plants: 1842, in the Healthian.[2][5] Etymonline and Barnhart date the noun to 1839.[3][4] An earlier adjective for the same idea was anti-carnivorous (1828).[3]

Semantic evolution

According to the OED, the general use of the word owed much to the founding of the Vegetarian Society at Ramsgate in 1847.[2][3] The adjective, "consisting of vegetables; meat-free", is recorded from 1843,[2][5] and "practising or advocating vegetarianism" from 1847.[2] From 1851 the noun was also used of animals that eat plants,[2][5] then from 1871 of members of a Chinese religious sect sworn to abstain from meat, a sense now rare.[2] Meat dishes in a vegetarian version, made with beans or soya, are named this way from 1894.[2] The modern distinction from vegan, who also avoids dairy produce and eggs, is drawn by the Shorter Oxford.[6][7]

Timeline

  • 1839 – Etymonline's and Barnhart's date.[3][4]
  • 1842 – a person who lives on plant food.[2][5]
  • 1843 – adjective, meat-free.[2][5]
  • 1847 – the Vegetarian Society founded at Ramsgate.[2]
  • 1851 – an animal that lives on plants.[2]
  • 1871 – a member of a Chinese vegetarian sect.[2]
  • 1894 – adjective, of a meatless version of a dish.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person who does not eat meat or fish, either on principle or for health, though usually eating dairy produce and eggs.
  2. An animal that feeds on plants; a herbivore.

Adjective

  1. Containing no meat or fish: a vegetarian curry.
  2. Practising, advocating or relating to vegetarianism.

Word family

  • lacto-ovo-vegetarian
  • lactovegetarian
  • nonvegetarian
  • vegetarianism

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins