Etymologically
Log in

vicious

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 03:52. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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

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