'Pervert' is the most negative '-vert' word — 'per-' adds destructive force, implying corruption not redirection.
To alter from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended (verb); a person whose sexual behavior is regarded as abnormal and unacceptable (noun).
From Latin 'pervertere,' meaning 'to turn thoroughly, to overturn, to corrupt,' composed of 'per-' (thoroughly, completely, to destruction) and 'vertere' (to turn). The word entered English through Old French 'pervertir.' The prefix 'per-' carries a strongly negative intensification — not merely turning
The legal phrase 'perverting the course of justice' — a serious criminal offense in English law — preserves the word's original Latin meaning with striking precision: it describes the act of turning the course of justice away from its proper path, corrupting the legal process by redirecting it from truth.