verb (n.)

"a word that asserts or declares; that part of speech of which the office is predication, and which, either alone or with various modifiers or adjuncts, combines with a subject to make a sentence" [Century Dictionary], late 14c., from Old French verbe "word; word of God; saying; part of speech that expresses action or being" (12c.) and directly from Latin verbum "verb," originally "a word," from PIE root *were- (3) "to speak" (source also of Avestan urvata- "command;" Sanskrit vrata- "command, vow;" Greek rhētōr "public speaker," rhetra "agreement, covenant," eirein "to speak, say;" Hittite weriga- "call, summon;" Lithuanian vardas "name;" Gothic waurd, Old English word "word").

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to verb

adverb (n.)

"one of the indeclinable parts of speech, so called from being ordinarily joined to verbs for the purpose of limiting or extending their signification, but used also to qualify adjectives and other adverbs" [Century Dictionary], late 14c., from Late Latin adverbium "adverb," literally "that which is added to a verb" (to extend or limit its meaning), from ad "to" (see ad-) + verbum "verb, word" (from PIE root *were- (3) "to speak;" see verb). Coined by Flavius Sosipater Charisius as a translation of Greek epirrhema "adverb," from epi- "upon, on" + rhema "verb."

cruciverbalist (n.)

"maker of crossword puzzles," by 1977, mock-Latin, coined in English from Latin cruci-, combining form of crux "cross" (see crux) + verbum "word" (see verb).

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Trends of verb

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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irony

"figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of the literal meaning" (usually covert sarcasm under a serious or friendly pretense), c. 1500, from Latin ironia, from Greek eironeia "dissimulation, assumed ignorance," from eiron "dissembler," perhaps related to e

proverb

c. 1300, in boke of Prouerbyys, the Old Testament work, from Old French proverbe (12c.) and directly from Latin proverbium "a common saying, old adage, maxim," literally "words put forward," from pro "forth" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward") + verbum "word" (see verb). Hence, i

rhetoric

early 14c., rethorike, "the art of eloquence and persuasiveness in language, the art of using language to influence others," from Old French retorike, rethorique (Modern French rhétorique) and directly from Latin rhetorice, from Greek rhētorikē tekhnē "art of an orator," fr

swivel

c. 1300, "coupling device that allows independent rotation," from frequentative form of stem of Old English verb swifan "...to move in a course, revolve, sweep" (a class I strong verb), from Proto-Germanic *swif- (source also of Old Frisian swiva...Related Middle English swive was the principal slang verb for "to have sexual intercourse with," a sense that developed c...This probably explains why, though the root is verbal, the verb swivel is not attested in Modern English until 1794....

hamstring

The literal sense of the verb is attested from 1670s....Because it is a verb from a noun-noun compound, hamstrung as its past participle is technically incorrect....[I]n hamstring, -string is not the verb string; we do not string the ham, but do something to the tendon called the hamstring...; the verb, that is, is made not from the two words ham & string, but from the noun hamstring....

prophesy

The noun and verb spellings were not fully differentiated until 18c. Related: Prophesied; prophesying....Other verb forms in Middle English were prophetise (mid-14c., from Old French profetisier and Latin prophetizare), prophet...

kipper

The modern noun usually is a shortening of kippered herring, from a verb meaning "to cure a fish by cleaning, salting, and...The earliest attested uses of the verb are to preparing salmon, hence the verb....

cupola

in architecture, a type of vault or small dome, 1540s, from Italian cupola, from Late Latin cupula "a little tub," diminutive of Latin cupa "cask, barrel" (see cup (n.)). Hence "the rounded top of any structure." The Italian word signifies a hemispherical roof which covers a cir

conjugation

mid-15c., "the inflection of a verb in all its different forms; a class of verbs similarly conjugated," from Latin coniugationem (nominative coniugatio), literally "a combining, connecting," noun of action from past-participle stem of coniugare "to join together," from assimilate

participle

late 14c., in grammar, "a noun-adjective, a word having the value of an adjective as a part of speech but so regularly made from a verb and associated with it in meaning and construction as to seem to belong to the verb," from Old French participle in the grammatical sense (13c.)

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updated on June 30, 2019

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ver-

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