Oh, two little letters can make all the difference sometimes, can’t they? In this case, it’s the difference between ferocity and being all washed up. Well, kind of.
What is the difference between “vicious” and “viscous”?
Here’s what you need to know:
- “Vicious” means extremely aggressive, fierce, and/or dangerous.
- “Viscous” means having a thick, sticky, or slow-moving liquid consistency.
If you’re writing a text message about how vicious someone is, there’s an absolute difference between these two words and whether you include the second “i” or that “s.” If someone is “viscous,” there’s an entirely different story going on. Perhaps that story involves how that person is in fact made out of honey.
And if that’s the case, maybe that person wouldn’t be vicious; they’d be sweet. No? Too much?
What’s fun about these two words is their etymologies. You could argue that viscosity is related to Christmas and that viciousness is related to the worst of our vices. Why? Because “viscous” comes from the Latin word viscum, meaning “sticky,” “birdlime that comes from mistletoe,” or sometimes simply mistletoe itself. “Vicious” has the same root as “vice,” the Latin word vitium, meaning “fault.”
“Vicious” has been used in English since the 1300s, but interestingly enough, so has “viscous.” Which came first? The world may never know. Well, that’s perhaps not true. The world might someday know, but my research hasn’t yet uncovered the answer.
But the good news is that you hopefully have uncovered your answer concerning the difference between “vicious” vs. “viscous.” Just remember the difference between the bees and the honey. Or perhaps to build some plot, just remember the difference between the bees out to defend their threatened hive and the honey. Bears? Annoying people? I’ll let you fill in the rest of the details.
Good luck!
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