Etymograph

English

voracity

Voracity comes from Latin vorācitās ‘greediness, ravenousness, voracity’, and goes back to vorō ‘to devour’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvorō‘to devour’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvorāx‘voracious, gluttonous’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvorācitās‘greediness, ravenousness, voracity’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600voracité
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1831voracity

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvorō‘to devour’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvorāx‘voracious, gluttonous’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvorācitās‘greediness, ravenousness, voracity’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600voracité
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1831voracity

Earliest quotation: 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley: “Beatrice felt heart-sick to see the famished voracity with…”

Formed from -acity

first attested First attested in 1526 (as stated in the etymology)

The story

First attested in 1526 from Middle French voracité, from Latin vorācitās (whence -acity), from vorāx.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- ‘to devour’

gorge, quirk, gurgle, ouroboros, 24 more

through Proto-Italic *worā

devourer, 15 more

through Latin vorō ‘to devour’

devour, herbivorous, 16 more

Today it means

noun The state of being voracious; rapacity or extreme gluttony.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin vorō / voracity

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