virago

See also: Virago and virāgo

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virāgō (“warlike or heroic woman”, literally “manlike”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɪˈɹɑːɡəʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vi‧ra‧go

Noun

virago (plural viragos or viragoes)

1. A woman given to undue belligerence or ill manner at the slightest provocation.

   Synonyms: shrew, termagant; see also Thesaurus:shrew

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 361:

     Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.

   • 1964, Anthony Burgess, chapter III, in Nothing Like the Sun:

     Joan was all Arden, grinning there, siding with her virago mother.

2. A woman who is scolding, domineering, or highly opinionated.

   Synonyms: shrew; see also Thesaurus:shrew

3. A woman who is rough, loud, and aggressive.

Derived terms

• viraginian
• viraginity
• viraginous
• virago sleeve

Related terms

• virtue

Translations

woman given to undue belligerence

•  Chinese:

   Mandarin: 潑婦 / 泼妇 (zh) (pōfù)

•  Finnish: äkäpussi (fi)
•  French: please add this translation if you can

woman who is scolding

•  Chinese:

   Mandarin: 悍婦 / 悍妇 (zh) (hànfù)

•  Finnish: äkäpussi (fi)
•  French: please add this translation if you can

rough woman

• Bulgarian: мъжкарана f (mǎžkarana)
• Catalan: virago f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 母夜叉 (zh) (mǔyèchā)

• Czech: dračice (cs) f
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: äkäpussi (fi), amatsoni (fi), virago
• French: virago (fr) f
• Georgian: ანჩხლი დედაკაცი (ančxli dedaḳaci), ჭირვეული (č̣irveuli)
• German: Flintenweib n, Virago f, Mannweib (de) n, Zänkerin (de) f, Krawallnudel f (colloquial)
• Hungarian: cserfes nő
• Irish: ainscian mná f, maistín (mná) m, ropaire mná m, stiúireachán mná m, báirseach f, rálach f
• Italian: virago (it) f
• Polish: jędza (pl) f, megiera (pl) f, herod-baba (pl) f
• Portuguese: virago (pt) f
• Russian: бо́й-ба́ба (ru) f (bój-bába)
• Serbo-Croatian: muškarača (sh) f, nadžak-baba (sh) f
• Spanish: virago (es) f

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virāgō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.ʁa.ɡo/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

virago f (plural viragos)

1. virago

Further reading

• “virago”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Etymology

From Latin virāgō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /viˈra.ɡo/
• Rhymes: -aɡo
• Hyphenation: vi‧rà‧go

Noun

virago f (usually invariable, plural (literary) viragini)

1. amazon

Anagrams

• argivo, giravo, rigavo, rogavi, vagirò

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁-?

Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós

Proto-Italic *wiros

Latin vir

Latin -āgō

Latin virāgō

From vir (“man”) + -āgō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [wɪˈraː.ɡoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [viˈraː.ɡo]

Noun

virāgō f (genitive virāginis); third declension

1. a female warrior, a warlike woman
2. a woman
3. a wife

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	virāgō	virāginēs
genitive	virāginis	virāginum
dative	virāginī	virāginibus
accusative	virāginem	virāginēs
ablative	virāgine	virāginibus
vocative	virāgō	virāginēs

Descendants

• → Italian: virago
• → English: virago
• → French: virago
• → German: Virago
• → Portuguese: virago

References

• “virago”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “virago”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "virago", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “virago”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virāgō.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /viˈɾa.ɡu/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /viˈɾa.ɡu/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /viˈɾa.ɡo/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /viˈɾa.ɡu/ [viˈɾa.ɣu]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /viˈɾa.ɡu/ [viˈɾa.ɣu]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /biˈɾa.ɡu/ [biˈɾa.ɣu]

• Hyphenation: vi‧ra‧go

Noun

virago f (plural viragos)

1. (derogatory) a manly woman

Further reading

• “virago”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “virago”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Swahili

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Noun

virago

1. plural of kirago