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English word origin

Etymology of veto

From Latin vetō (“to forbid”).

1 source sectionBrief source recordWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
verb

To use a veto against. · To countermand.

noun

A political right to disapprove of (and thereby stop) the process of a decision, a law etc. · An invocation of that right. · An authoritative prohibition or negative; a forbidding; an interdiction. · A technique or mechanism for discarding what would otherwise constitute a false positive in a scientific experiment.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Latin vetō (“to forbid”).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*weth₂-"
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      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "vetō",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to forbid"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin vetō (“to forbid”)"
    }
  ],
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      "vetō",
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    ]
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  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To use a veto against.",
        "To countermand."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
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      "pos": "noun",
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        "A political right to disapprove of (and thereby stop) the process of a decision, a law etc.",
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        "An authoritative prohibition or negative; a forbidding; an interdiction.",
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Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for veto →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-dmV0bw