- verb (n.)
- late 14c., from Old French verbe "part of speech that expresses action or being," from Latin verbum "verb," originally "a word," from PIE root *were- (cf. Avestan urvata- "command;" Sanskrit vrata- "command, vow;" Greek rhetor "public speaker," rhetra "agreement, covenant," eirein "to speak, say;" Hittite weriga- "call, summon;" Lithuanian vardas "name;" Gothic waurd, Old English word "word").