Etymology

virtuous

vir·tu·ous
V4I1R1T1U1O1U1S1

Today it means: Full of virtue; having excellent moral character. Full definition →

Middle English vertuous ← Anglo-Norman vertuous ← Late Latin virtuōsus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromvirtūs
  2. Late Latin · derived fromvirtuōsus
  3. Anglo-Norman · derived fromvertuous
  4. Middle English · inherited fromvertuous
  5. English todayvirtuous

From Middle English vertuous, borrowed from Anglo-Norman vertuous, vertous, ultimately from Late Latin virtuōsus, from Latin virtūs. By surface analysis, virtue + -ous. Doublet of virtuoso and piecewise doublet of virtùous.

Words from the same roots

Late Latinvirtuōsus all →

virtuoso

Latinvirtūs all →

virtualvirtuevirtuoso

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.