vir

vi-r uital.-lat. “Mann, männlich”, vgl. ahdt. wer "Mann";

uig. *wiHrós "Mann", uital. *wiros, sanskr. vīrá, uger. *weraz, ahd. wer "Mann", mhd. Wehr, asächs. wer, apreuß. wijrs, aengl. engl. were-, wer, lith. vyras, latv. vīrs, air. fer, anord. verr, osti. ир, ir.

From Proto-Italic *wiros, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós. Cognates include Sanskrit वीर (vīrá), Old Prussian wijrs, Lithuanian vyras, Latvian vīrs, Old Irish fer, Old Norse verr, Ossetian ир (ir, “Ossetians”) and Old English wer (English were-).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /u̯ir/, [u̯ɪr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /vir/, [vir]

Noun

vir m (genitive virī); second declension

1. man (adult male human) [ quotations ▼]
2. brave or courageous man, hero, warrior
3. husband
4. (military) foot soldier

Usage notes

Vir has the sense of adult male human being. In reference to age or maturity, it is used in opposition to puer (“boy”); in reference to gender or sex, it is used in opposition to or coordination with fēmina or mulier (“woman”). In the context of ancient Roman society, vir connoted a man of freeborn status rather than an enslaved man or freedman. "Man" in the sense of "human being" is rendered by Latin homō (e.g., as opposed to bēstia (“beast”) or deus(“god”)); in the sense of male, by Latin mās (as opposed to fēmina (“female”)).

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -r).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vir	virī
Genitive	virī	virōrum
Dative	virō	virīs
Accusative	virum	virōs
Ablative	virō	virīs
Vocative	vir	virī

• The genitive plural may also be virum, virûm.