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voir

Etymology and origin of the French word voir

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
late 10th century, Passion of Clermont
Inherited from
Latin video via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (videō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin video
English video
French vue
French voir
Latin pervideo
Latin provideo
English provide
English provider

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /vwaʁ/[1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): [(v)wɒ(ɾ)][1]

Forms

voir[1] Old French veder (about 980), vedeir (1080), veeir (about 1155), veoir (about 1200); voir from 1636, though veoir is found until 1671.[2][3][4] The old 1st person je voi was archaic by the 18th century.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French veoir, earlier “vedeir”, inherited from Latin videō (“to see”).[5][2][6][7] The Latin verb belongs to the Indo-European root “*weid-”, which expressed seeing as a means of knowing: it gave Ancient Greek ἰδεῖν (ideîn, “to see”) (see idée), and its perfect means “to know” in Sanskrit “veda”, Gothic “wait” and German wissen.[2][8] Latin replaced with it the other Indo-European roots of seeing, “*spek-” (see espèce) and “*okʷ-” (see œil).[2] Wiktionary notes that “voir” is unrelated to voie and avoir.[1]

Cognate with Italian vedere, Old Occitan vezer, Catalan veure, Spanish ver, Portuguese ver and Romanian vedea.[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Passion of Clermont (late 10th century) has veder, to witness (sua fin veder voldrat, he will wish to see his end), and the Vie de saint Léger “to perceive with the eyes”.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

From the start voir covered the Latin range: to perceive by sight, to witness, and figuratively to realise, understand and judge.[2] The Chanson de Roland has it for seeing a country, meeting a person (qu'il me vienge veeir), reading and finding (voir + attribute).[5] In religious language it was to behold God (Saint Alexis, about 1050).[5][2] Y voir “to be able to see” dates from the late 12th century, voir le jour from Ronsard (1552), faire voir from 1550 and laisser voir from 1610.[2][5]

In the 17th century it took the senses “to imagine” (Mme de Sévigné, 1673), “to examine a patient” (Molière, 1665) and “to meet for business” (1675), and colloquial phrases followed: allez voir là-bas si j'y suis (Regnard, 1698), il fallait voir ! (Marivaux, 1727).[5][9] Informally voir is added to an imperative (dis voir).[1]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Veder in the Clermont Passion.[5]
  • c. 1050 – “To behold God”, in Saint Alexis.[5]
  • 1080 – Vedeir in the Chanson de Roland.[3]
  • c. 1200 – Veoir.[2]
  • 1552 – Voir le jour in Ronsard.[5]
  • 1636 – The form voir, in Monet.[3]
  • 1665 – “To examine (a patient)”, in Molière.[5]
  • 1673 – “To imagine”, in Mme de Sévigné.[5]
  • 1698 – Allez voir là-bas si j'y suis in Regnard.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To see: je vois la mer, voir clair, ne rien voir.[8][1]
  2. To witness, live through: il en a vu d'autres, voir le jour: to be born.[5][8]
  3. To meet, visit; to consult: aller voir qqn, voir un médecin.[1][9]
  4. To understand, realise: je vois ce que tu veux dire.[1][8]
  5. To consider, judge: voir les choses autrement, voir d'un bon œil.[8][1]
  6. To look into, check: c'est à voir, on verra.[8][2]
  7. Faire voir: to show, laisser voir: to reveal, n'avoir rien à voir avec: to have nothing to do with.[5][1]
  8. (informal) Added to an imperative: dis voir, montre voir.[1]

Word family

  • prévoir
  • revoir
  • voyance
  • voyeur
  • voici
  • voilà
  • voyant
  • vue
  • entrevoir
  • revue
  • vu
  • voyant
  • voyeur
  • prévoir
  • revoir
  • entrevoir
  • pourvoir
  • vision
  • évident
  • idée
  • Latin videō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 420b
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Voir.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/voir. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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