Vain

How to spell vain

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce vain

What does vain mean?

1. adjectiveProducing no result; useless or futile, especially in the phrase 'in vain'.
2. adjectiveHaving an excessively high opinion of one's own appearance, abilities, or worth.

Vain in a sentence

• All their efforts to save the failing shop proved vain.

• She was too vain to leave the house without checking the mirror three times.

• He made one last vain attempt to reach the airport before the gate closed.

• The actor grew so vain that he refused any role smaller than the lead.

Where does vain come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin vanus, which literally meant 'empty' or 'without substance', the same notion behind 'vacant' and 'vanish'. English took it through Old French 'vain' in the 1300s, at first carrying the sense of something hollow or worthless, as in an effort that comes to nothing. From that idea of emptiness grew the second sense, a person puffed up with hollow self-regard, having too high an opinion of their own appearance or worth. The noun 'vanity' travelled the same road and preserves both shades of meaning, since pride in things that ultimately count for little is itself a kind of emptiness. The biggest spelling trap is that 'vain' sounds exactly like 'vein' (a blood vessel) and 'vane' (the spinning blade on a weathervane), so the meaning must guide the spelling.

How the word is built

• vain (whole word, from Latin vanus: empty, without substance)

Words that sound like vain

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• vein: A blood vessel that carries blood back towards the heart.