vigour

English

Alternative forms

• vigor (US)
• vygour (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡə(ɹ)

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 vigour of this arm was never vain.

2. (biology) Strength or force in animal or force in animal or vegetable nature or action.

   A plant grows with vigour.

3. Strength; efficacy; potency.
   • 1667, (Can we [[:Category:Requests for quotation/John Milton|find and add]] a quotation of John Milton to this entry?)[[Category:Requests for quotation/John Milton|VIGOUR]]:

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

Usage notes

Vigour 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/hybrid vigour

Related terms

• vegetable
• vigil

Translations

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

• Bulgarian: енергия (bg) f (energija), сила (bg) f (sila)
• French: force (fr) f, vigueur (fr) f
• Galician: vigor (gl) m
• Latgalian: ognums m
• Latvian: spars m

• Maori: ngao
• Romanian: vigoare (ro) f, vitalitate (ro) f
• Russian: си́ла (ru) f (síla), эне́ргия (ru) f (enérgija)
• Swedish: vigör (sv) c, kraft (sv) c

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

• Bulgarian: сила (bg) f (sila)
• 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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Chinese: 精力，生命力
• Czech: vitalita (cs) f

• Finnish: pontevuus (1), tarmo (1)

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Old French

Noun

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

1. Alternative form of vigur