ver

truth

Quick Summary

The Latin root word ver means “truth” or “true.” This root is the word origin of a fair number of English vocabulary words, including verdict and veracity. The root ver is easily recalled through the word very, for when something is very good, it’s “truly” good.

A Truly Very Good Root!

The Latin root word ver means “truth” or “true.” Today we’ll take a very or “truly” close look at this Latin root—that’s the “truth!”

When a jury gives a verdict in a court case, it says what it thinks is the “truth” about the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Sometimes that verdict is very hard to verify, or make “true” beyond the shadow of a doubt. Even with seemingly overwhelming evidence, a court case may ultimately be unverifiable, or cannot be made “true,” simply because all the facts may not have been brought to light. It’s no wonder that people will often contest the veracity or “truthfulness” of court proceedings, especially when one hears of those poor victims who spent many decades of their lives in prison when they were, in fact, innocent the entire time!

The English word “very” functions as both an adverb and an adjective. When used as an adverb, such as very good or very clean, you mean that something is “truly” good or “truly” clean. The word very can also be used as an adjective. Imagine a knight saying to his squire, “Why, that’s the very sword I lost in my last battle!” In this case, the knight means that it’s the “true” or actual sword that he lost, not one that just looks like it.

The root word ver is the basis of many words that have something to do with “truth” in the Romance languages as well. For instance, the Spanish word for “truth” is verdad, French for “truth” is verite, the Italian is verita, and the Portuguese is verdade. As you can see, the root word ver is “truly” handy not only in English, but in many other languages as well.

I hope that you have “truly” enjoyed this podcast about the root word ver very much indeed!

  1. verdict: ‘true’ saying, or ‘truth’ said by a jury
  2. verify: to make sure something is ‘true’
  3. unverifiable: of that which cannot be made certain that it is ‘true’
  4. veracity: ‘truthfulness’
  5. very: ‘truly’ (adv.)
  6. very: ‘true’ (adj.)
  7. verdad: Spanish word for ‘truth’
  8. verite: French word for ‘truth’
  9. verita: Italian word for ‘truth’
  10. verdade: Portuguese word for ‘truth’

Usage

  • aver

    If you aver that something is the case, you say firmly and strongly that you believe it is true.

  • verisimilitude

    Verisimilitude is something's authenticity or appearance of being real or true.

  • verity

    The verity of something is the truth or reality of it.

  • veracity

    The veracity of something is its truthfulness.

  • veritable

    Something that is veritable is authentic, actual, genuine, or without doubt.

  • unverifiable

    (of e.g. evidence) not objective or easily verified

  • veracious

    habitually speaking the truth

  • verdict

    (law) the findings of a jury on issues of fact submitted to it for decision

  • verification

    additional proof that something that was believed (some fact or hypothesis or theory) is correct

  • verify

    confirm the truth of

  • verily

    in truth

  • very

    used as intensifiers

Related Word Parts

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