# vector

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈvɛktə/ · frequency rank #7,301

## Definitions
1. A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.
2. A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.
3. A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.
4. A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.
5. A kind of dynamically resizable array.
6. A kind of dynamically resizable array.
7. A kind of dynamically resizable array.
8. A carrier of a disease-causing agent.
9. A carrier of a disease-causing agent.
10. A carrier of a disease-causing agent.
11. Forces, developments, phenomena, processes, systems, etc. which influence the trajectory of history (e.g. imperialism)

## Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin vector (“carrier, transporter”), from vehō (“to carry, transport, bear”), also ultimately the root of English vehicle.
The “person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme” sense derives from the disease sense.
The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.

## Easily confused with
- **veto** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/vector-vs-veto)
- **victor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/vector-vs-victor)
- **vendor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/vector-vs-vendor)
- **Viktor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/vector-vs-viktor)
- **victory** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/vector-vs-victory)

## Common misspellings (9)
`evctor`, `vcetor`, `vecctor`, `vecotr`, `vectorr`, `vectro`, `vecttor`, `vetcor`, `vvector`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/vector