Where does “very” come from?
Very comes from Middle English verray, from Old French verai, from Latin verax meaning "truthful," derived from Latin verus meaning "true," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European weh₁- meaning "to turn" or "to bend."
very (English): True, real, actual; The same; identical; With...
Definitions
- True, real, actual; The same; identical; With...
Ancestry of “very”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | verray | true, correct, factual, authentic, real; precise,... |
| 2 | Old French | verai | real; genuine |
| 3 | Late Latin | vērāgus | — |
| 4 | Latin | vērāx | — |
| 5 | Latin | -āx | — |
| 6 | Latin | -ium | Suffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes... |
| 7 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |