virago

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɪˈɹɑːɡəʊ/
• Hyphenation: vi‧ra‧go

Noun

virago (plural viragos or viragoes)

1. A woman given to undue belligerence or ill manner at the slightest provocation; a shrew, a termagant.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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.

2. A woman who is scolding, domineering, or highly opinionated.
3. A woman who is rough, loud, and aggressive.

Quotations

1964, Joan was all Arden, grinning there, siding with her virago mother. — Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like the Sun

Synonyms

• (belligerent woman): See Thesaurus:shrew
• (domineering woman): See Thesaurus:shrew
• (loud woman):

Derived terms

• viraginity
• viraginous

Related terms

• See virtue#Related_terms

Translations

rough woman

• French: virago (fr) f
• Georgian: ანჩხლი დედაკაცი (ančxli dedaḳaci), ჭირვეული (č̣irveuli)
• Irish: ainscian mná f, maistín mná m, ropaire mná m, stiúireachán mná m, báirseach f, rálach f
• Portuguese: virago (pt) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: бо́й-ба́ба (ru) f (bój-bába)
• Serbo-Croatian: muškarača (sh) f, nadžak-baba (sh) f
• Spanish: virago (es) f

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French

Etymology

From Latin virāgō

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vi.ʁa.ɡo/

Noun

virago f (plural viragos)

1. virago

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin virāgō

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /viˈra.ɡo/
• Hyphenation: vi‧ra‧go

Noun

virago f (invariable or literary plural: viragini)

1. amazon

Anagrams

• argivo, giravo, rigavo, rogavi, vagirò

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Latin

Etymology

From vir (“man”) +‎ -āgō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /u̯iˈraː.ɡoː/, [u̯ɪˈräːɡoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /viˈra.ɡo/, [viˈräːɡo]

Noun

virāgō f (genitive virāginis); third declension

1. a warlike woman

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	virāgō	virāginēs
Genitive	virāginis	virāginum
Dative	virāginī	virāginibus
Accusative	virāginem	virāginēs
Ablative	virāgine	virāginibus
Vocative	virāgō	virāginēs

Descendants

• → English: virago
• → French: 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’s 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.

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virāgō.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: vi‧ra‧go

Noun

virago f (plural viragos)

1. (derogatory) a manly woman