# vitium
## Latin
### Alternative forms

* vicium (Medieval Latin)

### Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(d)wi-tyo- (“apart, wrong”), a derivative of the number *dwóh₁ (“two”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈu̯i.ti.um/, [ˈu̯ɪt̪iʊ̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈvit.t͡si.um/, [ˈvit̪ː͡s̪ium]

### Noun

vitium n (genitive vitiī or vitī); second declension
* flaw, defect, blemish, imperfection
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.147–148:accipit ille locus positō vēlāmine cūnctās et vitium nūdī corporis omne videtThat place receives [you] with all [your] garments set aside, and exposes every blemish on the naked body. (See Fortuna Virilis.)
* vice
** c. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 8.3.41:nam prima virtus est vitio carereTranslation by Harold Edgeworth ButlerSince the first of all virtues is the avoidance of faults(literally, “For the first virtue is to lack vice”)
* crime, wrongdoing, misdeed, sin, error, fault
    Synonyms: dēlictum, peccātum, scelus, noxa, culpa, crīmen, facinus, malum, iniūria, error, dēlinquentia, flāgitium, commissum, maleficium
    Antonyms: bonum, rēctum, virtūs
* disease (of plants)

#### Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).
$^1$Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

#### Derived terms

* vitiō
* vitiōsus
* vituperō

#### Related terms

* vitiōsitas

#### Descendants

* Asturian: viciu
* → Albanian: ves
* Catalan: vici
* Friulian: vizi
* Galician: vezo, vizo, vizio
* Italian: vezzo, vizio
* Occitan: vetz
* Old French: vice
** French: vice
** → Middle English: vice
*** English: vice
* Piedmontese: vissi
* Portuguese: vezo, viço, vício
* → Romanian: viciu
* Sicilian: vezzu, vizziu
* Spanish: vezo, vicio

#### Further reading

* “vitium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “vitium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "vitium", 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)
* vitium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. a mistake, solecism: vitium orationis, sermonis or simply vitium to be indulgent to a person's faults: indulgere vitiis alicuius to be virtuous: virtute praeditum, ornatum esse (opp. vitiis obrutum esse) his vices betray themselves: vitia erumpunt (in aliquem) (De Amic. 21. 76) to abandon oneself to vice: animum vitiis dedere to be tainted with vice: vitiis, sceleribus contaminari or se contaminare (Off. 3. 8. 37) to be vicious, criminal: vitiis, sceleribus inquinatum, contaminatum, obrutum esse to eradicate vice: vitia exstirpare et funditus tollere a life defiled by every crime: vita omnibus flagitiis, vitiis dedita to have a natural propensity to vice: natura proclivem esse ad vitia (ambiguous) the word aemulatio is employed with two meanings, in a good and a bad sense: aemulatio dupliciter dicitur, ut et in laude et in vitio hoc nomen sit (ambiguous) to be free from faults: omni vitio carere (ambiguous) magistrates elected irregularly (i.e. either when the auspices have been unfavourable or when some formality has been neglected): magistratus vitio creati (ambiguous) to reproach, blame a person for..: aliquid alicui crimini dare, vitio vertere (Verr. 5. 50)

### References

* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “vitium”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 684
* vitium in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2025), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication