vinegar

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vinegre,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French vyn egre, also vinaigre, now French vinaigre;^[3][5][6] the Anglo-Norman form was vinegre, recorded from about 1300.^[7][8] The French word means "sour wine",^[9][10] from vin (“wine”), from Latin vīnum, and aigre (“sour, sharp”),^[3][11][9] from Vulgar Latin *acrus, from ācer (“sharp”),^[11][12] from Proto-Indo-European *ak- (“sharp”).^[11] Hoad takes it from a Romance phrase meaning sour wine, Vulgar Latin *vīnum acrum.^[5] It is related to wine and eager,^[10][5][3] and has cognates in Spanish vinagre, Portuguese vinagre, Italian vinagro and Occitan vinagre.^[3][13] Etymonline notes that in Latin vinegar was vinum acetum (“wine turned sour”), or acetum for short.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sour liquid made by the fermentation of wine and other alcoholic drinks, used as a condiment and preservative: about 1315, in the poems of Shoreham;^[3] Barnhart dates it before 1325, in the Cursor Mundi.^[4] In Middle English it was usually wine vinegar.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The spelling vinegre gave way to vineger in the 15th to 17th centuries and to vinegar from the 16th.^[5] Allusions to the sting of vinegar on a wound or on the teeth, after Proverbs 10:26, are recorded from 1548, and to Hannibal's use of vinegar in crossing the Alps from 1636.^[3] By about 1616 Shakespeare used it figuratively, of sour speech or temper,^[3] and Weekley derives the phrase vinegar aspect from The Merchant of Venice.^[13] Johnson (1755) defined it as wine grown sour, and then as anything really or metaphorically sour.^[14] In 17th- and 18th-century cant vinegar was a cloak,^[15][3] and Collins records a North American informal sense, vitality or energy.^[12] The verb, to treat with vinegar, is recorded from 1612, in Ben Jonson's Alchemist.^[3][9] The adjective vinegarish (1648) is mostly literal, while vinegary (1730) is chiefly figurative.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1315 – vinegar, in Shoreham.^[3]
• before 1325 – vinegre, in the Cursor Mundi.^[4]
• 1548 – allusions to vinegar's sting on a wound or on the teeth.^[3]
• 1612 – verb, to treat with vinegar.^[3]
• before 1616 – figurative, sour speech or temper, in Shakespeare.^[3]
• 1648 – vinegarish.^[4]
• 1699 – cant, a cloak.^[3][15]
• 1730 – vinegary.^[4]
• 1839 – a particular kind or preparation of vinegar.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sour liquid of dilute acetic acid, made by fermenting wine, cider, malt or other alcoholic liquids, used to flavour and preserve food: Sprinkle the chips with malt vinegar.^[12][9][3]
2. A particular kind of vinegar: a shelf of herb vinegars.^[3]
3. Sourness of temper, speech or expression; peevishness.^[12][3]
4. (pharmacology) A medicinal solution in dilute acetic acid.^[12]
5. (North America, informal) Vitality, energy.^[12]

Verb

1. To treat with vinegar or add vinegar to.^[12][9][3]

Word family

• vinegarlike
• vinegarish
• vinegary
• vinegared
• balsamic vinegar
• cider vinegar

Related words

• vinaigrette
• vinegarroon
• wine
• eager

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com