Etymograph

English

vanity

Vanity comes from Latin vānitas ‘emptiness, nothingness’, from vānus ‘vain, empty, vacant, void’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-1‘empty, leave, abandon, give out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wānos1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvānus2‘vain, empty, vacant, void’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvānitas2‘emptiness, nothingness’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400vanité2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500vanite2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1611vanity2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin vanus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English vanity
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Then I said in my heart, As it happeneth…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-Wiktionary, Latin vanus‘empty, leave, abandon, give out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wānosWiktionary, Latin vanusreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvānusWiktionary, English vanity‘vain, empty, vacant, void’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvānitasWiktionary, English vanity‘emptiness, nothingness’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400vanitéWiktionary, English vanity
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500vaniteWiktionary, English vanity
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1611vanityWiktionary, English vanity. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Then I said in my heart, As it happeneth…”

Formed from vain + -ity

Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘empty, leave, abandon, give out’

Proto-Italic *wānos

Latin vānus ‘empty’

Old French vain

Middle English veyn

English vain

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘empty, leave, abandon, give out’

want, various, waste, variety, vacation, vast, void, vary, variable, evacuate, vacant, vacate, waning, wane, vacuous, varicella, 26 more

through Latin vānus ‘vain, empty, vacant, void’

vain, vanish, evanescent, 7 more

Today it means

noun That which is vain, futile, or worthless; that which is of no value, use or profit.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vanity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin vanus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- / vanity

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