Etymograph

English

vitiate

Vitiate comes from Latin vitiātus ‘damaged’, from vitium ‘vice’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ‘two’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dwóh₁1‘two’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(d)wi-tyo-1‘apart, wrong’uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitium2‘vice’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitiō2‘damage, spoil’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitiātus2‘damaged’perfect passive participle of vitiō
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1734vitiate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin vitium
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English vitiate
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1734, William Stukeley, Of the Gout: “[…]all the hinges of the animal frame are subverted,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dwóh₁Wiktionary, Latin vitium‘two’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(d)wi-tyo-Wiktionary, Latin vitium‘apart, wrong’uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitiumWiktionary, English vitiate‘vice’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitiōWiktionary, English vitiate‘damage, spoil’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitiātusWiktionary, English vitiate‘damaged’perfect passive participle of vitiō
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1734vitiateWiktionary, English vitiate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1734, William Stukeley, Of the Gout: “[…]all the hinges of the animal frame are subverted,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ‘two’

two, doubt, twin, defeat, dual, duo, binary, diplomacy, dubious, duet, twain, bis, biceps, twig, deuce, disparate, bes, binocular, betwixt, 20 more

through Latin vitium ‘vice’

vice, vicious, 1 more

Today it means

verb To spoil, make faulty; to reduce the value, quality, or effectiveness of something.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vitiate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin vitium. 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 *dwóh₁ / vitiate

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