vivid

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin vīvidus (“full of life, animated, lively”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed on vīvō (“to live”) and vīvus (“alive”) with the adjective suffix that became -id.^[7][5][8] Barnhart and Etymonline think it came partly through vivide.^[9][4] The Latin verb goes back to the Indo-European root that also gave quick, biology and zoo,^[10][4][3] and the same Latin family gave vital, vivacious, revive and survive.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Full of life, vigorous, of persons and their qualities: 1638, in Thomas Jackson's Treatise of the Consecration of the Son of God;^[2][9] Merriam-Webster dates the sense "producing a strong, clear impression" to 1634,^[6] and Etymonline puts the word in the 1630s.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From "lively" the word moved to things that look full of life: of colour and light, "brilliant, bright", from 1665, in Boyle,^[2][9] and Johnson (1755) illustrates its colours from Boyle and Newton.^[11] Locke used it in 1690 for ideas clearly perceived,^[2][9] the source of vivid memories and impressions.^[4] In the 19th century it came to describe strong feelings (1853, in Charlotte Brontë's Villette),^[2][9] a mind that readily forms clear images (1814, in Scott's Waverley),^[2] and descriptions that present a scene clearly and strikingly (1837).^[2] The sense "lifelike" is recorded from 1852, in Hawthorne.^[2] Of the derived nouns, Fowler preferred vividness to the rarer vividity.^[4]

Timeline

• 1638 – full of life, vigorous.^[2][9]
• 1665 – of colour or light, brilliant.^[2][9]
• 1690 – clearly perceived, in Locke.^[2][9]
• 1814 – of the imagination, quick to form images.^[2]
• 1837 – of description, clear and striking.^[2]
• 1852 – lifelike.^[2]
• 1853 – of feelings, intense.^[2][9]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of a colour, very bright and intense; brilliantly coloured: a vivid orange sunset.
2. Producing clear, lifelike images in the mind; graphic: She gave a vivid account of the storm.
3. Of a memory or impression, remaining clear and distinct.
4. Of the imagination, quick to create images, often unrealistic ones.
5. Full of life; lively or spirited.

Word family

• vividly
• vividness
• overvivid
• unvivid

Related words

• vital
• vivacious
• revive
• survive
• quick
• vivisection

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
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. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.