verve
French, noun/vɛʁv/
verve is spelled V-E-R-V-E (5 letters) and appears 1.7 times per million words in written French, the 22,520th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Verve is a French feminine noun meaning “eloquence” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Caprice, bizarrerie, fantaisie”.
What does verve mean in English?
noun
- 1
feminineeloquence
- 2
feminineverve, brio
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Caprice, bizarrerie, fantaisie. 2. Chaleur d’imagination qui anime l’orateur, le poète, l’artiste dans la composition de leurs ouvrages. 3. Brio d'une personne qui s'exprime à l'oral ou à l'écrit, vivacité d’esprit.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of verve
- verves plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce verve?
- /vɛʁv/
- \vɛʁv\
- [vɛʁv]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to verve
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is verve in French?
verve appears 1.7 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).