V.A. Editing

Vain or vein?

As with many homophones, errors with vain and vein have the potential to slip through the net during the drafting process. An editor should pick up on this mistake, but if you want to be on the lookout yourself, it’s worth clarifying the difference between these two words.

Vain

One definition of vain spelt with an ‘a’ is ‘too interested in your own appearance or achievements’, and another states ‘too proud of yourself, especially in your appearance or achievements’. In both cases, vain is used as an adjective to describe someone in a negative way, for example:

  • He is so vain that you can’t get him away from the mirror.
  • I’ve lost track of how many times she has told me about her promotion – she’s so vain.

So, the above use of vain with the ‘a’ spelling relates to vanity. If you are writing a character who is always bragging about their achievements, or frequently fussing over their appearance, then vain is the word for you.

It’s worth noting that vain can also have the meaning of ‘unsuccessful; of no value’, again being used as an adjective to describe something, for example:

  • She struggled to piece together the clues in the vain hope of solving the mystery.
  • He made a vain attempt to apologise.

If the characters in your manuscript are trying but failing to achieve something then they can be said to be striving in vain.

Vein

Vein spelt with an ‘e’ has several possible meanings, perhaps the most obvious one being ‘a tube that carries blood to the heart from the other parts of the body’, for example:

  • He was lucky that the knife missed hitting an artery or vein.

Vein can also refer to ‘the frame of a leaf or an insect’s wing’ and ‘a narrow layer of a substance that forms in or fills a crack in rock’, both of which can have a similar appearance to veins under the skin.

The word vein with an ‘e’ can also be used to mean ‘a quality or characteristic’ or ‘a style or temporary mood’, such as:

  • There was a vein of truth to what she said. (quality)
  • The novel started with emotive dialogue and continued in the same vein. (style)

Thinking about your own writing then, if you are describing a character as being overly proud, or doing something with little value, then you need vain with an ‘a’. However, if you are writing about people getting injured and bleeding, then vein with an ‘e’ is the spelling for you.

If in doubt, check a good dictionary. It’s worth getting the right spelling so that your readers are not distracted from the scene and potentially pulled out of the story.

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely day!

*Definitions sourced from the Cambridge Online Dictionary