means A bad habit or moral failing you indulge despite knowing better — or, in a tool, a clamp that grips something tight.

from From Latin 'vitium,' meaning a fault, defect, or blemish, which gave Old French 'vice' before it reached English. The two modern senses split from the same root: the moral 'vice' (a flaw in character) and the gripping 'vice' (a defect-correcting tool that holds fast). The clamp sense may also have been colored by Latin 'vitis,' the spiraling vine, echoing the screw's twist — a likely influence rather than a proven one.