vicious

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈvɪʃəs/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vicious (earlier vecious), borrowed from Anglo-Norman vicious and Old French vicieus,^[2][3][4] and directly borrowed from Latin vitiōsus (“faulty, defective, corrupt”),^[3][5][2] from vitium (“fault, vice”).^[4][3][2] It is the adjective of vice.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of habits and practices, of the nature of vice, immoral: about 1340, in Richard Rolle.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it also meant unwholesome and, of a text, corrupt,^[8][5] and in law, made void by some defect (1393).^[3][6] From that came the logical sense, spoiled by a fault, as in vicious circle,^[5] a translation of New Latin circulus vitiosus (about 1792), later a worsening cycle of events (1839).^[2] Of horses and other animals, savage or not properly broken, is dated by the 1690s in Etymonline and 1711 in the OED and Barnhart;^[5][3][2] Weekley thought this use may reflect Anglo-French wischus, restive.^[9] Full of malice or spite is from 1825, and of weather, severe, from 1882.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – immoral, of habits.^[3]
• c. 1386 – of persons, depraved.^[3]
• 1393 – legally void (law).^[3]
• 1711 – of animals, savage.^[3][2]
• c. 1792 – vicious circle.^[2]
• 1825 – spiteful, malicious.^[3][2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Deliberately cruel or violent: a vicious attack.
2. Full of malice or spite: vicious rumours.
3. Of an animal, fierce and dangerous.
4. (informal) Very severe: a vicious wind.

Word family

• viciously
• viciousness
• unvicious
• vicious circle

Related words

• vice
• vitiate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray