vital English · revision 5609

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1385|origins=la vīta}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈvaɪ.təl/, US /ˈvaɪ.t̬əl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English vital, [[bor|fro|vital]] and directly from [[la|vītālis|t=of life]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[m|la|vīta|t=life]], related to vīvere “to live”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[ine-pro|*gʷeyh₃-|alt=*gwei-|t=to live]].^(Etymonline) It is related to [[vitamin]] and [[quick]].^(Cresswell 2021)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of or relating to the animating force of living things: about 1385, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Medieval senses related to the force or energy present in all living things,^(Cresswell 2021) as in ''vital spirits'', from about 1450.^(OED 1989) Living, containing life, is from the mid-15th century.^(Etymonline) Essential to life, of organs, is from 1482,^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) which led, by 1619, to the general sense “necessary, very important”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The noun ''vitals'', the vital organs, is from before 1610.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) ''Vital air'', oxygen in old chemistry, is from 1791.^(OED 1989) ''Vital statistics'', records of births, marriages and deaths, is from 1837, and the colloquial sense, a woman's bust, waist and hip measurements, from 1952.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) ''Vitality'' is from 1592.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1385 – of the life force.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1482 – essential to life.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1592 – ''vitality''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1619 – very important.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1837 – ''vital statistics''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Very important or necessary; [[essential]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Needed to stay alive: ''the vital organs''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Full of life and energy; [[lively]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of or relating to life.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[vitally]]

+ * [[vitalness]]

+ * [[intravital]]

+ * [[nonvital]]

+ * [[revitalise]]

+ * [[revitalize]]

+ * [[supravital]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[revive]]

+ * [[survive]]

+ * [[viable]]

+ * [[vitality]]

+ * [[vitals]]

+ * [[vivid]]

+ * [[vitamin]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}