LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininefirst declension

vīta

vīta f (genitive vītae)
Classical[ˈwiː.ta]Ecclesiastical[ˈviː.ta]
№ 87 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. life
  2. broadlyliving, support, subsistence
  3. a way of life
  4. real life (not fiction)
  5. figurativelymankind, the living
  6. Medieval Latinbiography, life (particularly but not necessarily a hagiography)

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

tempus inter prīmum diem et mortem; omne quod vīvit.
vīta -ae f — in Mille Verba, ch. Vīta et Mors

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Vita · Salus · Victus

1. Vita (οἶτος) denotes the duration of life, in opp. to mors; whereas salus (from ὅλος?), the safety of life, in opp. to interitus, exitium. 2. Vita denotes the public; victus the private life of a man. Nep. Alc. 1. Splendidus non minus in vita quam in victu. (iv. 448.)

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativevītavītae
genitivevītaevītārum
dativevītaevītīs
accusativevītamvītās
ablativevītāvītīs
vocativevītavītae

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

vita rustica
country life (the life of resident farmers, etc.)
in vita esse
to be alive.
vita occidens
the evening of life.
vitae societas
social life.
se vita privare
to take one's own life.
si vita suppetit
if I live till then.
supremo vitae die
on one's last day.
vitae finem facere
to put an end to one's life.
52 more phrases
sic vita hominum est
that is the way of the world; such is life.
vita or hac luce frui
to enjoy the privilege of living; to be alive.
vita honesta (turpis)
a virtuous (immoral) life.
vitam solitariam agere
to live a lonely life.
si vita mihi suppeditat
if I live till then.
quod reliquum est vitae
the rest of one's life.
potestas vitae necisque
power over life and death.
vitam alicuius exponere
to give an account of a man's life.
morum ac vitae imitatio
a lifelike picture of everyday life.
vitam alicuius depingere
to make a sketch of a man's life.
vitam in egestate degere
to live in poverty, destitution.
res ad vitam necessariae
the necessaries of life.
aliquid e vita ductum est
a thing is taken from life.
rusticatio, vita rusticana
country life (of casual, temporary visitors).
inediā mori or vitam finire
to starve oneself to death.
vitam profundere pro patria
to sacrifice oneself for one's country.
in vitae discrimine versari
to be in peril of one's life.
vita privata (Senect. 7. 22)
private life.
vitam beatam (miseram) degere
to live a happy (unhappy) life.
extremum vitae spiritum edere
to give up the ghost.
vitae commoditas iucunditasque
comfort
vita omnibus flagitiis inquinata
a life defiled by every crime.

vīta, ae (
I. gen. sing. vitaï, Lucr. 1, 415; 2, 79; 3, 396), f. vivo; Sanscr. gīv, to live; Gr. βίος, life, life.
I. Lit.
A. In gen.: tribus rebus animantium vita tenetur, cibo, potione, spiritu, Cic. N. D. 2, 54, 134: dare, adimere vitam alicui, id. Phil. 2, 3, 5: necessaria praesidia vitae, id. Off. 1, 17, 58: in liberos vitae necisque potestatem habere, Caes. B. G. 6, 19: exiguum vitae curriculum, Cic. Rab. Perd. 10, 30: ego in vitā meā nullā umquam voluptate tantā sum adfectus, etc., id. Att. 5, 20, 6: vitam agere honestissime, id. Phil. 9, 7, 15; cf.: degere miserrimam, id. Sull. 27, 75: vitam in egestate degere, id. Rosc. Am. 49, 144: tutiorem vivere, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 47, § 118: profundere pro aliquo, id. Phil. 14, 11, 30 fin.: amittere per summum dedecus, id. Rosc. Am. 11, 30: auferre alicui, id. Sen. 19, 71: in vitā manere, id. Fam. 5, 15, 3: in vitā diutius esse, id. Q. Fr. 1, 3, 5: e vitā discedere, id. Fam. 2, 2; cf. cedere, id. Brut. 1, 4: vitā cedere, id. Tusc. 1, 15, 35: de vitā decedere, id. Rab. Perd. 11: vitā se privare, id. de Or. 3, 3, 9: vitā aliquem expellere, id. Mur. 16, 34: si vita suppetet, id. Fin. 1, 4, 11: si mihi vita contigerit, Planc. ap. Cic. Fam. 10, 24, 1: ne ego hodie tibi bonam vitam feci, a pleasant life, Plaut. Pers. 4, 8, 3: bonam vitam dare, id. Cas. 4, 4, 21; cf., on the other hand: malae taedia vitae, Ov. P. 1, 9, 31.—
B. In partic., life, as a period of time = aetas (post-Aug.): ii quadragensimum annum vitae non excedunt, Plin. 6, 30, 35, § 195; 7, 2, 2, § 30; 7, 49, 50, § 160: periit anno vitae septimo et quinquagesimo, Suet. Vit. 18: septem et triginta annos vitae explevit, Tac. A. 2, 88 fin.; Val. Max. 4, 1, 6; 8, 13, ext. 7; Gell. 15, 7, 1; Hier. in Dan. 6, 1.—Plur.: nec vero, si geometrae et grammatici ... omnem suam vitam in singulis artibus consumpserint, sequitur, ut plures quasdam vitas ad plura discenda desideremus, Quint. 12, 11, 20; cf. also in the foll.—
II. Transf.
A. A living, support, subsistence (Plautinian; syn. victus): vitam sibi repperire, Plaut. Stich. 3, 2, 9; cf.: neque illi concedam quicquam de vitā meā, id. Trin. 2, 4, 76.—
B. A life, i. e. a way or mode of life (class.): vita hominis ex ante factis spectabitur, Auct. Her. 2, 3, 4: vita rustica honestissima atque suavissima, Cic. Rosc. Am. 17, 48: hanc usus, vita, mores respuit, id. Mur. 35, 74; cf.: inquirendo in utriusque vitam et mores, Liv. 40, 16, 2; so (with mores) Ov. H. 17, 172 Ruhnk.: neque ante philosophiam patefactam hac de re communis vita dubitavit, nor was it doubted in common life, Cic. Div. 1, 39, 86: vita, victusque communis, social life, id. Off. 1, 17, 58; cf.: omni vitā atque victu excultus, id. Brut. 25, 95.—Plur.: inspicere, tamquam in speculum, in vitas omnium, Ter. Ad. 3, 3, 61; cf.: per omnium vitas amicitia serpit, Cic. Leal. 23, 87: (Minos) vitas et crimina discit, Verg. A. 6, 433. —
C. Life, real life (opp. fancy or fiction): ex quo est illud e vitā ductum ab Afranio, Cic. Tusc. 4, 20, 45: de vitā hominum mediā sumptum, Gell. 2, 23, 12: nil sine magno Vita labore dedit mortalibus, Hor. S. 1, 9, 60.—
D. Like our life, to denote a very dear object: certe tu vita es mihi, Plaut. As. 3, 3, 24; cf. Ter. Ad. 3, 2, 33.—Hence, mea vita, or simply vita, my life, as a term of endearment, Plaut. Stich. 4, 2, 6; Cic. Fam. 14, 2, 3; 14, 4, 1; Prop. 1, 2, 1; 2, 20 (3, 13), 17.—
E. The living, i. e. mankind, the world; like Gr. βίος (poet. and in postAug. prose): rura cano, rurisque deos, his vita magistris Desuevit quernā pellere glande famem, Tib. 2, 1, 37: agnoscat mores vita legatque suos, Mart. 8, 3, 20: verum falsumne sit, vita non decrevit, Plin. 8, 16, 19, § 48: alias in tumultu vita erat, id. 13, 13, 27, § 89.—
F. A life, i. e. a course of life, career, as the subject of biography: in hoc exponemus libro de vitā (al. vitam) excellentium imperatorum, Nep. praef. § 8; id. Epam. 4 fin.: vitae memoriam prosā oratione composuit, Suet. Claud. 1 fin.: propositā vitae ejus velut summā, id. Aug. 9: referam nunc interiorem ac familiarem ejus vitam, id. ib. 61; cf. Serv. Verg. A. 1, 368: qui vitas resque gestas clarorum hominum memoriae mandaverunt, Gell. 1, 3, 1.—
G. The duration of life (in plants, etc.), duration: arborum immensa, Plin. 16, 44, 85, § 234; 16, 44, 90, § 241; Pall. 12, 7, 17.—
H. An existence, a being, of spirits in the infernal regions: tenues sine corpore vitae, Verg. A. 6, 292; cf. id. ib. 12, 952.

Origins

From Proto-Italic *gʷītā. Possibly corresponds to a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wo-teh₂ (compare Ancient Greek βίοτος (bíotos, “life”), Old Irish bethu, bethad, Irish beatha, Welsh bywyd, Old Church Slavonic животъ (životŭ, “life”), Lithuanian gyvatà (“life”), Sanskrit जीवित (jīvitá), Avestan gayo (accusative ǰyātum) "life")), ultimately from *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”).

Gallo-Romance
  • Catalanvida
  • Frenchviefrom Old French vie
  • Occitanvida
  • Aragonesevidafrom Old Navarro-Aragonese vida
  • Aragonesevitafrom Old Navarro-Aragonese vida
  • Piedmontesevia
  • Piedmontesevisa
  • Gasconvita
  • Gasconvida
  • Gasconvia
Ibero-Romance
  • Portuguesevidafrom Old Galician-Portuguese vida
  • Spanishvidafrom Old Spanish vida
  • Asturianvidafrom Old Leonese vida
  • Asturianvíafrom Old Leonese vida
  • Extremaduranvíafrom Old Leonese vida
  • Leonesevidafrom Old Leonese vida
  • Mirandesebidafrom Old Leonese vida
  • Falavíafrom Old Galician-Portuguese vida
  • Galicianvidafrom Old Galician-Portuguese vida
  • Shonavidafrom Old Galician-Portuguese vida
Borrowing
  • Englishvita
  • Englishlife
  • Dutchvita
  • Dutchleven
  • Interlinguavita
Daco-Romance
  • Romanianvită
  • Megleno-Romanianvítă
Italo-Romance
  • Italianvita
  • Corsicanvita
  • Emilianvéttafrom Italian vita
  • Friulianvitefrom Italian vita
  • Judeo-Italianוִיטַהfrom Italian vita
  • Lombardvitafrom Italian vita
  • Ladinvitafrom Italian vita
  • Piedmontesevitafrom Italian vita
  • Romagnolvitafrom Italian vita
  • Romanshvitafrom Italian vita
Southern Romance
  • Sardinianvida
  • African Romancebita
Dalmato-Romance
  • Dalmatianvaita
  • Istriotveîta

In English words that came into English from vīta

  • vitalvītālis
  • vitaminvīta
  • vitalityvitalitas
  • vitavīta
  • vitologyvīta
  • vitalometervīta
  • vitascopevīta

Quick answers

What does vīta mean in Latin?
vīta, a noun, means “life; living, support, subsistence; a way of life”.
What is the genitive of vīta?
The genitive singular is vītae. vīta is feminine, first declension.
How do you pronounce vīta?
In classical Latin, [ˈwiː.ta]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈviː.ta].
Which English words come from vīta?
English words that go back to Latin vīta include vitamin, vita, vitology, vitalometer, vitascope and vital.