From Latin 'vanus' (empty) — literally 'emptiness,' theidea that excessive pride is hollow inside.
Definition
Excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements; the quality of being worthless or futile.
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Latin13th centurywell-attested
From Old French 'vanité,' from Latin 'vānitātem' (accusative of 'vānitas,' emptiness, void, falseness, worthlessness), derived from 'vānus' (empty, hollow, void, without substance), from PIE *h₁weh₂- (to be empty, to be wanting). Vanity is etymologically 'emptiness' — thecondition of being hollow. Ecclesiastes opens 'vanitas vanitatum' (vanity of vanities) to mean 'emptiness of emptinesses' — the ultimate nothingness of worldly
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'Vanity,' 'vanish,' 'vacant,' 'vacuum,' and 'void' all derive from concepts of emptiness. Vanity is inner emptiness. To vanish is to become empty (disappear). Vacant is empty of occupants. A vacuum is an empty space. Ecclesiastes declared 'vanity of vanities' — emptiness of emptinesses — using the concept that pride is a hollow
'vācuus' (empty, free from), source of 'vacuum' and 'vacuous,' is from the same PIE root, preserving the older purely spatial meaning of emptiness that 'vanity' has moralized. Key roots: *h₁weh₂- (Proto-Indo-European: "empty, void").