/ˈviːtoʊ/·noun, verb·c. 1629 CE, in English political and parliamentary writing discussing royal prerogative powers·Established
Origin
From Latin veto ('I forbid'), the first-person declaration of the Roman tribunes who stood in the Forum and shouted down senatorial decrees to protect the poor — now the word used by the most powerful states in the world to block collective action.
LatinClassical Latin, c. 494 BCE onwardwell-attested
Latin 'veto' is the first-person singular present indicative of the verb 'vetare', meaning 'to forbid, prohibit, hinder'. The word entered English political vocabulary directly from Latin in the early 17th century, when parliamentary and constitutional writers began deploying classical terminology to describe sovereign powers of refusal. The earliest politically significant use of 'veto' in Roman history is traditionally associated with the institution of the tribunes of the plebs (tribuni plebis), established c. 494 BCE following
Did you know?
The Roman veto was originally a tool of the powerless against the powerful. The Tribune of the Plebs — a magistratecreated specifically for Rome's commoners — could halt any action by any magistrate simply by being present and speaking the word. No written order, no committee, no deliberation: just a man from the lower classesstanding in the way and saying 'I forbid.' The entire protection rested on his physical body being sacred and untouchable. Modern usage has flipped this entirely — today the veto belongs almost exclusively to
languages in its original conjugated, first-person form rather than as a noun or infinitive stem. The verb 'vetare' derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *
with vigor, to oppose forcefully'. Some etymologists link 'vetare' to a root carrying the sense of warding off. In English, 'veto' first appeared c. 1629 in texts discussing royal prerogative, and by the 18th century had become standard constitutional terminology across Europe and the Americas, applied to executive powers of refusal in legislative processes. The US Constitution (1787) built executive veto power into Article I, Section 7, and the UN Charter (1945) granted P5 veto power to the Security Council's permanent members. Key roots: *wet- (Proto-Indo-European: "to drive, pursue, or forcefully oppose"), vetare (Latin: "to forbid, prohibit, hinder"), veto (Latin: "I forbid — conjugated first-person present indicative used as a standalone political formula").