vice [ME] In the sense of immorality vice is from Latin vitium ‘vice’, also the source of vicious [ME]. This originally meant ‘showing vice’ but was extended to mean ‘savage’ in descriptions of bad-tempered horses [E18th], and later [E19th] to mean ‘spiteful’. The tool sense [ME] was originally a word for a screw or winch that comes via Old French vis, from Latin vitis ‘vine’ from the spiral growth of the vine’s tendrils.