| 1 | Middle English | vertu | An ability, specialty, or feature; Power,... |
| 2 | Anglo-Norman | vertu | valour; honour; goodness; virtue |
| 3 | Latin | virtutem | accusative singular of virtūs; virtue |
| 4 | Latin | virtus | manhood, manliness, virility; courage,... |
| 5 | Latin | vir | man in the sense of "adult male human"; adult,... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | wiros | a man |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wiHrós | man; husband; warrior, hero |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | weyh₁- | to chase, pursue; to suppress, persecute |