Other forms: vows, vowed, vowing
A vow is a promise made seriously and out loud, in front of people who matter. Wedding vows, a monk's vow of silence, a vow never to speak to your brother again.
It is a verb too: he vowed to pay her back, she vowed revenge. It takes TO plus a verb, or THAT — she vowed that she would return. A vow is heavier than a promise; it carries ceremony, or at least real feeling, so a vow to buy milk sounds like a joke. You make a vow, take a vow, keep a vow, break a vow, and at a wedding you exchange vows. Headlines love the word because it is short and loud: 'Minister vows to cut waiting lists.'
1nounvowA serious promise made openly, often as part of a ceremony.
“They wrote their own vows and read them out in the garden.”
synonyms: oath, pledge
2verbpledgeTo promise something seriously and openly.
“She vowed never to lend him money again.”
vow is a solemn promise.
Also accepted in games: oath
Latin vōtum was a promise or a thing dedicated to a god, from the verb voveo, to promise or vow. Old French wore it down to vut and Middle English wrote it vowe. Its twin in English is vote — what you pledge and what you cast came out of the same Latin word. Despite the look of it, vow is not related to avow.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₁wegʷʰ-
Latin
vōtum — a promise, dedication, vow
Old French
vut
Middle English
vowe
English, today
vow
Built from
Middle English vowe, voue, that from Old French vut, in turn from Latin vōtum (“a promise, dedication, vow”), from voveo (“to promise, vow”). Not related to avow. a doublet of vote.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA