Etymologically
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vitiosus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 17:55. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [wɪ.tiˈoː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [vit.t͡siˈɔː.s̬us][1]

Forms

vitiōsus (feminine vitiōsa, neuter vitiōsum, comparative vitiōsior, superlative vitiōsissimus, adverb vitiōsē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vitium (“fault, defect”) + -ōsus.[2][1] De Vaan traces vitium to Proto-Italic *witio- (“deviation, fault”), and with Walde and Hofmann explains it as Proto-Indo-European *(d)ui-tio- (“apart, wrong”), from the root of duo (“two”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[4] who uses it both of a flawed nut and of a person morally depraved.[2]

Semantic evolution

Of physical things it means flawed or defective, and of the body or places unhealthy.[2] It had technical senses: in law an animal with a disease was defective, in augury a sign could be faulty, a law could be passed irregularly, and days unfit for public business were marked as such.[2] The moral sense, corrupt or depraved, is as old as Plautus.[2][5] It is common in medieval texts.[4] English took it through Anglo-French and Old French as vicious in the mid-14th century.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a flawed nut and of moral fault.[2][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of diseased livestock as legally defective.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of faulty auspices and irregular laws.[2][4]
  • mid-14th century – The word reaches English as vicious.[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having a fault, flawed, defective; of the body or places, unhealthy.[2][5][1]
  2. Defective in a technical sense: in law, in augury, of irregular procedure, of days unfit for public business.[2]
  3. Of actions or methods, faulty, unsound.[2]
  4. Morally defective, corrupt, depraved.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • vitiōsē
  • vitiōsitas

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com