Etymograph

English

perverse

Perverse comes from Latin perversum ‘thoroughly turned’, from vertō ‘to turn’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wert-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-1‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertō1‘to turn’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertō2as vertere‘to turn’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEperversum2‘thoroughly turned’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pervers2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500perverse2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1545perverse2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin verto
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English perverse
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1545, John Bale: “This rule hath been always for the commodity of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wert-Wiktionary, Latin verto‘to turn, to rotate, spin’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wertōWiktionary, Latin verto‘to turn’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvertōWiktionary, English perverseas vertere‘to turn’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEperversumWiktionary, English perverse‘thoroughly turned’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400perversWiktionary, English perverse
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500perverseWiktionary, English perverse
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1545perverseWiktionary, English perverse. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1545, John Bale: “This rule hath been always for the commodity of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’

word, worth, weird, ridiculous, universe, ridicule, derision, invert, deride, derisive, wurst, extraversion, 59 more

through Proto-Italic *wertō ‘to turn’

diversion, inversion, aversion, transverse, vertebra, reversion, evert, 42 more

through Latin vertō ‘to turn’

university, version, divorce, conversation, diversity, vertical, versus, vortex, diverse, advertisement, convertible, versatile, adverse, advert, divert, revert, adversity, diversification, vertex, vertigo, avert, vertebrate, inverse, introvert, subvert, vert, averse, verso, 48 more

Today it means

adj Turned aside while against something, splitting off from a thing.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “perverse”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin verto. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wert- / perverse

Shirt and support for this word