Virgo

How to spell virgo

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce virgo

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does virgo mean?

1. nounThe sixth sign of the zodiac, associated with people born between late August and late September.
2. nounA large constellation in the zodiac, containing the bright star Spica.

Virgo in a sentence

• Anyone born in early September falls under virgo in the zodiac.

• The astronomer pointed the telescope toward virgo to find Spica.

• The magazine ran a cheerful horoscope for virgo this week.

• On clear spring evenings virgo rises high in the southern sky.

Where does virgo come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Virgo comes straight from the Latin word virgo, which simply meant 'a maiden' or 'an unmarried young woman', and from which English also gets 'virgin'. Roman and earlier Greek astronomers pictured this stretch of the zodiac as a young woman, often holding an ear of wheat, and the constellation was associated with goddesses of harvest and justice such as Ceres and Astraea. The name passed unchanged into the technical Latin of medieval astronomy and astrology, and English adopted it wholesale, keeping the original Latin spelling rather than translating it. Because the word is borrowed intact, it never grew an English suffix, which is why it ends in a lone 'o' that some writers second-guess. The bright star Spica in this constellation actually takes its name from the Latin for the 'ear of grain' the maiden was said to carry.

How the word is built

• virg- (from Latin virgo: maiden, virgin)
• -o (Latin nominative ending retained in English)