Etymograph

English

viverra

Viverra comes from Latin vīverra ‘ferret’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wer- ‘to burn’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wer-1‘to burn’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvīverra2‘ferret’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1829viverra2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin viverra
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English viverra
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1829, John Wilkes, Encyclopaedia Londinensis: “Viverra tigrina, or yellowish-grey weasel. […] Mr. Pennant has…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wer-Wiktionary, Latin viverra‘to burn’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvīverraWiktionary, English viverra‘ferret’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1829viverraWiktionary, English viverra. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1829, John Wilkes, Encyclopaedia Londinensis: “Viverra tigrina, or yellowish-grey weasel. […] Mr. Pennant has…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wer- ‘to burn’

wear, guard, ward, regard, con, garage, warn, worm, beware, optic, ware, weir, garrison, panorama, verge, wry, reverence, revere, prosaic, vermin, vermilion, guaranty, diorama, milliner, varmint, vermicelli, vermiculite, vermeil, 67 more

Today it means

noun An animal of the genus Viverra; a civet.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “viverra”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin viverra. 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 *wer- / viverra

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