Wednesday Word: Virago

[calzephyr]

Virago - noun.

IF someone calls you a virago, you may take offense or take it as a compliment!

At times archaic, it can mean to call a woman nasty or shrewish, or can also be used to describe a strong, spirited woman, like an Amazon.

Virago is quite interesting and I'll let Professor Wikipedia do the explaining:

A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from the Latin word virāgō (genitive virāginis) meaning vigorous'[1] from vir meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue) to which the suffix -āgō is added, a suffix that creates a new noun of the third declension with feminine grammatical gender. Historically, this was often positive and reflected heroism and exemplary qualities of masculinity. However, it could also be pejorative, indicating a woman who is masculine to the exclusion of traditional feminine virtues.

By My own photograph of a work dated 1897 (or slightly earlier) by Francesco Porzio of Vercelli, (1855-1934). - Ian Spackman, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link