vigil
pronunciation
How to pronounce vigil in British English:
UK [ˈvɪdʒɪl]
How to pronounce vigil in American English:
US [ˈvɪdʒəl]
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- Noun:
- a period of sleeplessness
- a devotional watch (especially on the eve of a religious festival)
- a purposeful surveillance to guard or observe
Word Origin
- vigil
- vigil: [13] Etymologically, to take part in a vigil, you have to be ‘alert’ and ‘awake’. The word comes via Old French vigile from Latin vigilia, which was derived from the adjective vigil ‘awake, alert’, so the notion underlying it is of staying awake to keep watch. Another derivative of the Latin adjective was vigilāre ‘keep watch’, which lies behind English reveille [17], surveillance [19], vigilant [15], and vigilante [19] (via Spanish). It came ultimately from the Indo-European base *wog-, *weg- ‘be lively or active’, which also produced English vigour, wake and watch.=> reveille, surveillance, vigilante, vigour, wake, watch
- vigil (n.)
- c. 1200, "eve of a religious festival" (an occasion for devotional watching or observance), from Anglo-French and Old French vigile "watch, guard; eve of a holy day" (12c.), from Latin vigilia "a watch, watchfulness," from vigil "watchful, awake, on the watch, alert," from PIE root *weg- (2) "be lively or active, be strong" (cognates: Old English wacan "to wake up, arise," wacian "to be awake;" Old High German wahta "watch, vigil;" see wake (v.)). Meaning "watch kept on a festival eve" in English is from late 14c.; general sense of "occasion of keeping awake for some purpose" is recorded from 1711.
Example
- 1. For weeks , her parents kept vigil by her bed .
- 2. Ranjitpura , india : soldiers keep vigil at the western edge of the india-pakistan border
- 3. A candlelight vigil was held in beijing .
- 4. Candlelight vigil in new delhi for kondh tribe 's resistance to vedanta 's bauxite mining at niyamgiri mountain .
- 5. Pilgrims perform a series of rituals including walking around the kaaba , standing vigil on mount arafat and a ritual stoning of the devil .