vivacious

English

WOTD – 7 August 2007

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vīvāx (“lively, vigorous”) (with the suffix -ious), from vīvere (“to live”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vaɪˈveɪʃəs/, /vɪˈveɪʃəs/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃəs

Adjective

vivacious (comparative more vivacious, superlative most vivacious)

1. Lively and animated; full of life and energy.
2. (obsolete) Long-lived.
3. (rare) Difficult to kill.

Synonyms

• (lively and animated): animated, bubbly, ebullient, high-spirited, lively, vibrant, exciting

Derived terms

• vivaciousness

Related terms

► English terms derived from the PIE root *gʷeyh₃-‎ (0 c, 20 e)

Translations

lively and animated

• Catalan: vivaç m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 活潑 (zh), 活泼 (zh) (huópo), 精神 (zh) (jīngshen)

• Czech: čilý (cs), čiperný
• Dutch: levendig (nl)
• Finnish: eloisa (fi), pirteä (fi)
• French: vivace (fr)
• Georgian: ცოცხალი (cocxali), ცხოველი (cxoveli), სიცოცხლისმოყვარული (sicocxlismoq̇varuli), მხიარული (mxiaruli)
• German: lebhaft (de)
• Irish: móraigeanta
• Italian: vivace (it)

• Latin: vīvāx
• Latvian: spirgts, žirgts, možs, mundrs
• Maori: ngangahau
• Persian: سرزنده‎ (fa) (sarzende)
• Portuguese: vivaz (pt)
• Russian: живо́й (ru) (živój), оживлённый (ru) (oživljónnyj), жизнерадостный (ru) (žizneradostnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: živahan (sh)
• Spanish: vivaz (es)
• Swedish: livfull (sv), livlig (sv)

long-lived

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 長命 (zh), 长命 (zh) (chángmìng), 長久 (zh), 长久 (zh) (chángjiǔ)

• Finnish: pitkäikäinen
• Georgian: მრავალწლიანი (mravalc̣liani)
• German: langlebig (de)

• Latin: vīvāx
• Russian: многоле́тний (ru) (mnogolétnij)
• Serbo-Croatian: dugovječan (sh), dugovjek (sh)
• Spanish: vivaz (es)

difficult to kill

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 很難殺死, 很难杀死 (hěn nán shāsǐ)

• Czech: vytrvalý
• Finnish: sitkeähenkinen (fi)

• German: langlebig (de)
• Latin: vīvāx
• Russian: живучий (ru) (živučij)

References

Further reading

• vivacious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• vivacious in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• vivacious at OneLook Dictionary Search