virago

See also: Virago and virāgo

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virāgō (warlike or heroic woman, literally manlike).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vɪˈɹɑːɡəʊ/
  • Hyphenation: vi‧ra‧go

Noun

virago (plural viragos or viragoes)

  1. A woman given to undue belligerence or ill manner at the slightest provocation.
    Synonyms: shrew, termagant; see also Thesaurus:shrew
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 361:
      Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. Thus outraged, she showed herself to be a bold as well as a furious virago. Next day she found her way to their lodgings and tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head.
    • 1964, Anthony Burgess, chapter III, in Nothing Like the Sun:
      Joan was all Arden, grinning there, siding with her virago mother.
  2. A woman who is scolding, domineering, or highly opinionated.
    Synonyms: shrew; see also Thesaurus:shrew
  3. A woman who is rough, loud, and aggressive.

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virāgō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vi.ʁa.ɡo/
  • (file)

Noun

virago f (plural viragos)

  1. virago

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

From Latin virāgō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /viˈra.ɡo/
  • Rhymes: -aɡo
  • Hyphenation: vi‧rà‧go

Noun

virago f (usually invariable, plural (literary) viragini)

  1. amazon

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

From vir (man) + -āgō.

Pronunciation

Noun

virāgō f (genitive virāginis); third declension

  1. a female warrior, a warlike woman
  2. a woman
  3. a wife

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative virāgō virāginēs
Genitive virāginis virāginum
Dative virāginī virāginibus
Accusative virāginem virāginēs
Ablative virāgine virāginibus
Vocative virāgō virāginēs

Descendants

  • English: virago
  • French: virago
  • German: Virago
  • Portuguese: virago

References

  • virago”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • virago”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • virago 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)
  • virago in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virāgō.

Pronunciation

 
  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /viˈɾa.ɡu/
    • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /viˈɾa.ɡo/
 

  • Hyphenation: vi‧ra‧go

Noun

virago f (plural viragos)

  1. (derogatory) a manly woman

Swahili

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Noun

virago

  1. plural of kirago
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