virtuous

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vertuous, also virtuous,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman vertuous, also verteus and virtueus, and Old French vertuos,^{[5][2][6][7][8]} from Late Latin virtuōsus (“good, full of virtue”),^[5][6][7][4] formed from virtūs (“virtue; manliness, valour”) and -ōsus.^[5][3][9] The Latin noun is from vir (“man”), from Proto-Indo-European *wi-ro- (“man”).^[6] In French the adjective meant courageous from about 1100, of a stone or other object having magical power, of a substance powerful or healing, and since about 1225 morally good.^[5] The Latin spelling with i was restored in early Modern English.^[6][9] It is related to virtue, and virtuoso is the Italian form of the same Latin adjective.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, strong and brave, valiant: about 1330, in Arthour and Merlin.^[5] Etymonline dates vertuous to about 1300, in the senses "full of vigour" and "valiant, befitting a knight".^[6]

Semantic evolution

The first senses came from Latin virtus as manliness and valour; they were obsolete by the early 17th century.^[5][6][7] Trench noted that virtuous had given up the meanings "valorous" and "potent" that its etymology justified, though virtue still sometimes meant power.^[10] From the mid-14th century herbs, waters and the like were virtuous when they had healing or beneficial powers,^[6][3] and since about 1390 people were virtuous in the moral sense, upright and free from vice.^[5][6] Chaucer called a moral tale vertuous in the Parson's Prologue.^[5] In Scotland it meant industrious from about 1450 into the 19th century:^[5][11] a woman who had spun six spindles of yarn in a week was praised as the most virtuous in the parish.^[11] The sense "chaste", used especially of women, is recorded from before 1600,^[5][12] and the ironic sense "self-righteous" from 1640.^[5] Virtuous was also a courtesy title for ladies of rank from Caxton's time.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – of a person, valiant, courageous.^[5]
• mid-14th century – of herbs or waters, having beneficial powers.^[6]
• c. 1390 – morally good, upright.^[5][6]
• c. 1405 – of a literary work, edifying, in Chaucer.^[5]
• c. 1450 – industrious (Scottish in later use).^[5]
• before 1600 – especially of a woman, chaste.^[5]
• 1640 – self-righteous, sanctimonious.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having or showing high moral standards; righteous or upright: She led a quiet and virtuous life.^[12][3][5]
2. Self-righteous, smugly proud of one's own goodness.^[5]
3. (archaic) Especially of a woman, chaste.^[12][5]
4. Having powerful, usually beneficial effects; efficacious.^[3][6]
5. (obsolete, 1330–1619) Brave, valiant.^[3][5][7]

Word family

• virtuously
• virtuousness
• nonvirtuous
• unvirtuous

Related words

• virtual
• virtue
• virtuosity
• virtuoso

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
11. ^ a b 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)
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins