virtue/virtuous

these terms, which come from the Latin vir for "man," have two general connotations: the first involves high-minded traits of morality, honor, integrity, and uprightness and is applied generally to men; the second deals with sexual purity (closest synonyms for this sense are chastity, virginity, and purity) and is almost always used for women. Today we rarely refer to a man as virtuous, and if we hear of "a virtuous woman," we know two things: she is chaste and her eyes are probably modestly cast down.