English
virility
Virility comes from Latin virīlis ‘manly, masculine, virile’, from vir ‘man’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to hunt’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyh₁-1‘to hunt’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wiHrós2‘man’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wiros2‘a man’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvir3‘man’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvirīlis4‘manly, masculine, virile’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvirīlitās5
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600virilité5
- Englishearliest quotation 1936virility5
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin vir
- 3 Wiktionary, Latin virilis
- 4 Wiktionary, Latin virilitas
- 5 Wiktionary, English virility
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art: “The Rabbis adjured her to endow the young man…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyh₁-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós‘to hunt’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wiHrósWiktionary, Latin vir‘man’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wirosWiktionary, Latin vir‘a man’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvirWiktionary, Latin virilis‘man’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvirīlisWiktionary, Latin virilitas‘manly, masculine, virile’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvirīlitāsWiktionary, English virility
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600virilitéWiktionary, English virility
- Englishearliest quotation 1936virilityWiktionary, English virility. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art: “The Rabbis adjured her to endow the young man…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to hunt’
previous, obvious, violent, violation, voyage, convey, inevitable, vengeance, violate, envoy, trivial, avenge, deviation, vis, trivia, venison, deviant, vindication, ochre, viaduct, vim, violator, inviolable, obviate, trivium, 52 more
through Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós ‘man’
through Latin vir ‘man’
Today it means
noun The state of being virile.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “virility”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós, Latin vir, Latin virilis, Latin virilitas. 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 *weyh₁- / virility