Vile

How to spell vile

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce vile

What does vile mean?

1. adjectiveExtremely unpleasant, disgusting, or morally contemptible.

Vile in a sentence

• The bins had not been emptied, and a vile smell filled the kitchen.

• The troll posted vile insults under every comment she wrote.

Where does vile come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin vilis, meaning 'cheap', 'of low value', or 'worthless', the kind of thing nobody would pay much for at market. From that commercial sense of low worth it developed a moral edge, coming to describe people and behaviour judged base, degrading, or contemptible. English borrowed it through Old French vil during the 1200s and 1300s, and the modern spelling keeps that compact French form rather than the full Latin one. Over time the everyday meaning drifted toward 'disgusting' or 'foul', so today a vile smell or a vile mood feels more about revulsion than about a low price tag. The same Latin root survives in 'vilify', meaning to speak of someone as worthless, and in 'revile', and the trap for writers is its homophone 'vial', a small glass bottle, which is spelled with the letters reversed.

How the word is built

• vil- (from Latin vilis: cheap, worthless)
• -e (silent ending)