Etymologically
Log in

vile

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 01:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vile, also vil,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman vil, also ville,[5][6] and Old French vil, feminine vile,[7][8][9] inherited from Latin vīlis (“cheap, of little value, common, base”).[7][10][3][11] The Latin adjective also gave Spanish vil, Portuguese vil and Italian vile.[7] Its origin is uncertain;[9][3][12] Watkins and de Vaan derive it from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to buy, sell”),[6][10] de Vaan as *wes-li- (“what can be bought”), with the expected Latin vowel ē raised to ī,[13] and Merriam-Webster compares vēnum (“sale”), the source of venal.[2] The Anglo-Norman adjective is recorded from about 1121, meaning cheap, low-born, poorly dressed, filthy or bad.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Morally despicable, base: about 1290, in the South English Legendary.[7] Barnhart's first record, probably before 1300 in Kyng Alisaunder and Arthour and Merlin, has the sense "of poor quality, very bad".[9]

Semantic evolution

Ayto notes that the original meaning was "of low status, quality or price, cheap, common", and that the use of vile for anything horrible is secondary.[12] Partridge traces the Latin word from "cheap" to "of little moral value".[14] In Middle English the moral sense (c. 1290), "base, degrading" (1297), "of poor quality" and "physically disgusting" (both before 1300) and "of little worth" (about 1320) are all recorded within a generation.[7][9] The literal sense "cheap, low in price" lasted from about 1490 to 1601,[7] while Weekley notes that it is still used of prices in French.[15] Johnson (1755) defined it as "base; mean; worthless; sordid; despicable".[16] In dialect, vile or vild meant "dirty, filthy" in Shetland and Orkney and "worthless" in Yorkshire.[17] A related verb vile, to degrade or to revile, was used from 1297 to 1530.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1290 – morally despicable.[7]
  • 1297 – base, degrading.[7]
  • before 1300 – of poor quality; physically disgusting; of persons, depraved.[7][9]
  • c. 1320 – of little worth.[7]
  • before 1400 – adverb, vilely.[7]
  • c. 1490 – cheap, low in price (obsolete after 1601).[7]
  • 1755 – Johnson: base, mean, worthless.[16]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Extremely unpleasant or disgusting; foul: a vile smell from the drains.[18][2][7]
  2. Morally despicable; wicked or shameful: a vile betrayal.[18][2][7]
  3. Tending to degrade or humiliate: the vile tasks given to prisoners.[18][7]
  4. Of little worth or of poor quality; mean or paltry.[2][7]

Adverb

  1. (archaic) In a vile way; vilely, now only in compounds such as vile-born.[2][7]

Word family

  • vilely
  • vileness
  • vilify
  • revile
  • vilipend
  • venal

Usage notes

In old thieves' cant, vile (also vil, ville, voil) meant a town, from French ville; it is recorded from 1688 to the mid-19th century.[19] Dictionary.com lists vile among words easily confused with vial and viol.[4]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  14. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  16. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  18. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  19. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com