virile

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French viril and directly borrowed from Latin virīlis (“of a man, manly”),^[2][3][4][5] from vir (“man, hero”),^[2][3][4] with the suffix -īlis,^[1][6] from Proto-Indo-European *wi-ro- (“man”).^[3][7] Etymonline and the OED name the French source as Old French, Etymonline dating it to the 14th century.^[3][4] The Latin noun is cognate with Old Irish fer, Welsh gŵr, Lithuanian výras, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂 (wair), Old Norse verr and Old English wer, the last of which survives in werewolf.^[2][8][9] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds that it is probably related to vīs (“strength”), the source of vim.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of things or qualities, belonging to or characteristic of a man: 1490, in Caxton's translation of Eneydos.^[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Rome the Latin adjective described the toga put on when a male came of age, and English likewise used the word for dress that marked a man as opposed to a youth, from 1603.^[3][4] From 1512 it was applied to people, in the sense of full of masculine energy.^[4] Barnhart dates the extended sense "vigorous, forceful" to 1572.^[2] The procreative sense appears in virile member, the penis, from the 1540s, after Latin membrum virile.^[3][4] Johnson (1755) defined the word by contrast, as "belonging to man; not puerile; not feminine".^[11] Modern dictionaries also apply it to things that have energy and drive, not only to men.^[10][5]

Timeline

• 1490 – of things and qualities, characteristic of a man.^[4][2]
• 1512 – of persons, full of masculine energy or strength.^[4]
• c. 1541 – virile member, the penis.^[4]
• 1572 – vigorous, forceful.^[2]
• 1603 – of dress, marking the attainment of manhood.^[4]
• 1697 – of sex, male.^[4]
• 1903 – noun, a virile person.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having the qualities of an adult man; masculine.^[12][10][4]
2. Of a man, having strong sexual drive or capable of procreation.^[12][10][5]
3. Strong, forceful and full of energy: a virile new political movement.^[12][10][5]
4. virile member: the penis.^[4][5][3]

Word family

• virilely
• ultravirile
• unvirile
• virilism
• virilization
• virility

Related words

• virtue
• werewolf
• vim
• virago

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins