verve

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Great energy, enthusiasm, and style, especially in art or performance.

   She played the violin with such verve that the audience leapt to their feet.

Simplified etymology

Verve was borrowed in the late 17th century from French, where it meant “vigour” and earlier “form of expression.” The French word derives from Latin verba, “words.” English first used verve for special talent in writing, extending it to general energy or vigour in the mid-19th century.

Borrowed from French verve (“animation; caprice, whim; rapture; spirit; vigour; type of expression”), probably from Late Latin verva, a variant of Latin verba (“words; discourse; expressions; language”), the plural of verbum (“word”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *werh₁- (“to say, speak”). Doublet of verb and word.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary