vigere

Vigere is a Latin verb meaning to be vigorous, to thrive, or to flourish. It is used to express vitality or growth in living beings, and can also denote the prosperity or thriving condition of places, enterprises, or states. The term is the etymological source of several Romance-language words such as Italian vigore, French vigueur, Spanish vigor, and Portuguese vigor, all deriving from Latin vigor or vigēre.

In Latin, vigēre is an intransitive verb whose sense covers physical vigor, health, and general flourishing. It appears in classical and late Latin texts in contexts describing strength, vitality, or thriving conditions, and can be used metaphorically to refer to prosperity or success. The infinitive vigēre provides the basis for derivative forms in the Romance languages, and it has left a lasting imprint on related vocabulary in English through the noun vigor.

In modern usage, vigēre survives primarily in scholarly contexts and in cognate terms across the Romance languages; it is not commonly used as an independent verb in contemporary standard Latin outside philological study. The concept it expresses—energy, vitality, and forward motion—continues to appear in related words such as vigor and vigorous in English, vigore in Italian, and vigueur in French.

See also: Vigor; Vigorous; Latin verbs; Romance-language cognates.