vie

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vien (“to test in competition”),^[2] a shortened form from Middle English envien (“to contend, vie with”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which is from Old French envier (“to invite, challenge; to raise the stake”),^[3][7][4][8] from Latin invītō (“to invite; to summon, challenge”),^[7][6][3][4] the source of invite, of which Skeat considers it a doublet.^[5][9] The Shorter Oxford, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English call the shortening probable.^[10][11][12] The OED derives the verb either from the noun, a stake or bid at cards, which is shortened from French envi (“increase of stake; challenge”), or from the French verb itself,^[13] and Merriam-Webster's Unabridged calls it a modification of the Middle French verb.^[8] The same Latin verb gave the card-playing terms Spanish envidar and Italian invitare, used of opening a game with a stake.^[13][4][5] The Anglo-Norman envier is recorded from 1120–40 for to invite, and perhaps to bid or bet.^[14] The Latin verb is itself of uncertain origin;^[9][15] Partridge mentions a possible link with invītus (“unwilling”).^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

To test in competition who might do something best: before 1450, in a manuscript of Chaucer's “Book of the Duchess”, where they had leisure to vie who myȝt slepe best and the Fairfax manuscript has envye.^[2] The OED notes an isolated early instance of the form, and its regular record begins in 1565, in card-playing, for staking a sum on the strength of one's hand.^[13][3]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that the Latin verb meant to challenge as well as to invite.^[9] In Old French the verb was used in gaming for opening a game by staking a sum, and Skeat traces the English senses from staking a sum to draw on a game, to wagering, and then to contending for the upper hand.^[5] According to Hendrickson, the shortened form became popular in gambling houses for backing one's hand with a bet, and later came to mean striving in any sense.^[16] The card-playing senses were common about 1590–1650 and are obsolete;^[13] in the Tudor game, to vie was to put down a stake on a hand and to revie to cover it with a larger one, as in Ben Jonson's “Here's a trick vied and revied!”.^[17] The general sense of contending in rivalry is dated to the 1560s by Etymonline^[7] and to 1602 by Barnhart.^[3] The transitive use, to display or practise something in rivalry with another, is recorded from about 1570 and is now obsolete or archaic,^[13] as is the sense to match one thing against another (1583).^[13] Johnson (1755) gave "to show, or practise in competition" as the first sense and thought the etymology very uncertain.^[18]

Timeline

• before 1450 – to test in competition, in a manuscript of Chaucer.^[2]
• 1565 – in card-playing, to stake a sum on the strength of one's hand.^[13][3]
• c. 1570 – to put forward or practise in rivalry with another.^[13]
• 1577 – to stake a sum on a hand of cards, often figuratively.^[13]
• 1583 – to match one thing with another in rivalry or comparison.^[13]
• 1602 – to contend in rivalry, compete.^[3] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1560s.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To compete or strive for superiority, usually followed by for or with: Three cafés on the square vie for the tourists' custom.^[19][8][20]
2. (archaic) To offer or exchange in rivalry; to match.^{[19][8][20][13]}
3. (obsolete) In card games, to stake or wager a sum on one's hand.^[13][20][8]

Word family

• vier
• outvie

Related words

• invite
• invitation
• revie

Usage notes

The Middle English verb envien (“to contend”) had the same form as the verb meaning to envy, which comes from a different Latin source,^[2] and Skeat stresses that the gaming verb is quite distinct from it.^[5] A noun vie, from French vie (“life”), from Latin vīta, was used in Middle English for an account of a saint's life or for a way of life,^[13][2] and since the late 19th century in French phrases such as vie de Bohème.^[10][21]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
15. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
16. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
17. ^ Skeat, Walter W.; Mayhew, A. L. (1914), A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press
18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
19. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
20. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
21. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press