Meaning

adjective (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering

adjective having the nature of vice

adjective bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure

originPIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English vicious, from Anglo-Norman vicious, (modern French vicieux), from Latin vitiōsus, from vitium (“fault, vice”). Equivalent to vice + -ous.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0