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voire

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Etymology and origin of the French word voire

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1155 Wace, Brut More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin vera via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin vērus

Pronunciation

Forms

voire[1] Old French veire, also voire from about 1160.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French veire, inherited from Latin vēra (“truly”), the neuter plural of vērus (“true”) used as an adverb.[2][3][5][1] The GLLF and Rey treat the adverb as popular Latin.[4][3] Classical Latin used the singular vērum adverbially in the sense “truly, in fact”.[3]

Cognate with Italian vero.[5] Littré cites Picard voire (“true, indeed”) and Norman vère.[6] vrai is from the same Latin adjective, through a popular derivative.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as veire in Wace's Brut (1155), strengthening a statement: “certainly, truly”.[2] In the Roman d'Enéas (about 1160) voire means “yes, certainly”.[2]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “certainly, without doubt” became archaic in the 17th century: Richelet in 1680 admits it only in burlesque style, and the Dictionnaire de Trévoux in 1704 calls it entirely abolished.[2][3] The sense “and even”, adding a stronger term, goes back to Wace and survives in literary or regional French.[3][4]

From the 16th century it was strengthened by other adverbs: voire vraiment (1530), voire mais (1538) and voire même (1601), which purists criticise as redundant.[3][2][7] From 1607 (d'Urfé) it was used, often jokingly, to express doubt or irony, like vraiment ?.[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg note that in popular speech it survives in commands such as dis voire, where it is confused with voir.[5]

Timeline

  • 1155 – Veire appears in Wace's Brut.[2]
  • c. 1160 – Voire “yes, certainly” is used in the Roman d'Enéas.[2]
  • c. 1265 – Jean de Meun writes voire “and even”.[4][3]
  • 1538 – Voire mais is recorded.[3]
  • 1601 – Charron writes voire mesme.[2]
  • 1607 – D'Urfé uses it to express doubt.[2][3]
  • 1680 – Richelet notes that voire “yes” is only burlesque.[2]
  • 1704 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux calls that sense abolished.[2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. (literary) And even, indeed, adding a stronger word: des semaines, voire des mois.[7][2][1]
  2. (dated or humorous) Expresses doubt about what has just been said: “really?”.[2][7]
  3. (obsolete) Truly, certainly, yes.[2][6]

Usage notes

Voire même is common but is criticised as a pleonasm.[7][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Voire.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/voire. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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