vigour

English

Alternative forms

• vigor (US)
• vygour (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡə(r)

Etymology

From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman vigour, from Old French vigor, from Latin vigor, from vigeo (“thrive, flourish”), from Proto-Indo-European.

Related to vigil, and more distantly compare vis and vital, from similar Proto-Indo-European roots and meanings (lively, power, life), via Latin.

Noun

vigour (countable and uncountable; plural vigours)

1. Active strength or force of body or mind; capacity for exertion, physically, intellectually, or morally; force; energy.
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden:

     The vigor of this arm was never vain.

2. (biology) Strength or force in animal or force in animal or vegetable nature or action; as, a plant grows with vigor.
3. Strength; efficacy; potency.
   • 1667, (Can we find and add a quotation of John Milton to this entry?):

     But in the fruithful earth […] His beams, unactive else, their vigor find.

Usage notes

Vigor and its derivatives commonly imply active strength, or the power of action and exertion, in distinction from passive strength, or strength to endure.

Derived terms

• envigorate
• vigorous
• hybrid vigor

Related terms

• vegetable
• vigil

Translations

active strength or force of body or mind; capacity for exertion, physically, intellectually, or morally; force; energy

• French: force (fr) f, vigueur (fr) f
• Latgalian: ognums m
• Latvian: spars (lv) m

• Romanian: vigoare (ro) f, vitalitate (ro) f
• Russian: сила (ru) f (sila), энергия (ru) f (energija)

strength or force in animal or force in animal or vegetable nature or action; as, a plant grows with vigor

• French: vigueur (fr) f

• Romanian: putere (ro) f, forță (ro) f

strength; efficacy; potency

• French: force (fr) f, vigueur (fr) f, énergie (fr) f

• Romanian: forță (ro) f, vigoare (ro) f, energie (ro) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Finnish: pontevuus (1), tarmo (1)
• Czech: vitalita f
• Chinese: 精力，生命力

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Old French

Noun

vigour m (oblique plural vigours, nominative singular vigours, nominative plural vigour)

1. Alternative form of vigur.