Etymologically
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vivid

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Pronunciation

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

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.