Etymologically
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vinegar

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈvɪnəɡəː/[1]
  • US: /ˈvɪnəɡɚ/[1]

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

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