virtual English · revision 6007

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1398|origins=la-med virtualis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈvɜː.tʃu.əl/, /ˈvɜː.tju.əl/, US /ˈvɝː.tʃu.əl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English vertual, [[bor|la-med|virtuālis]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|la|virtūs|t=excellence, potency, efficacy]], literally “manliness” (see [[virtue]]),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) suggested by Late Latin virtuosus.^(NODE 1998)^(SOED 2002) The Middle English spelling followed vertu “virtue”, and the Latinate virtual is from about 1400.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Possessing physical virtues or powers, capable of exerting influence by inherent qualities: before 1398, in Trevisa, in Barnhart and the OED.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) It preserves the old sense of [[virtue]], “efficacy, power to do”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Morally virtuous is from about 1425, now obsolete,^(OED 1989) and capable of producing an effect, potent, from 1432–50.^(OED 1989) Being something in essence or effect, though not in fact or in name, is from the mid-15th century in Etymonline, probably by way of that sense,^(Etymonline) and 1654 in Jeremy Taylor in Barnhart and the OED.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) In optics a virtual image or focus, an apparent one, is from 1704,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and in dynamics virtual velocity from 1818.^(OED 1989) In computing, “not physically existing but made to appear by software” is from 1959, first of memory,^(Etymonline) and virtual reality, shopping and currency followed.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1398 – possessing physical powers.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1425 – morally virtuous (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1654 – so in effect though not in name.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1704 – a virtual image, in optics.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1959 – in computing.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Being so in effect, though not in name or in fact: ''a virtual stranger''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(computing)'' Made to appear by software; simulated: ''virtual reality''.^(Collins 2023)^(Etymonline)

+ # Carried out over the [[internet]]: ''a virtual meeting''.^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(physics)'' Of an image or focus, apparent rather than real.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[virtuality]]

+ * [[virtually]]

+ * [[virtual focus]]

+ * [[virtual image]]

+ * [[virtual machine]]

+ * [[virtual memory]]

+ * [[virtual particle]]

+ * [[virtual reality]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[virtue]]

+ * [[virtuous]]

+ * [[virtuoso]]

+ * [[virile]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}