What does vet mean?
Vet is a familiar English word with both a noun and a verb meaning. As a noun, it identifies a veterinarian, the professional who diagnoses and treats illnesses or injuries in animals. As a verb, it originally refers to giving an animal a medical examination and has developed a broader meaning: to inspect, scrutinize, or assess someone or something carefully before accepting or approving it. Thus, a committee may vet a proposal, an editor may vet a manuscript, and a background check may vet a job applicant. The verb often carries a connotation of caution or skepticism, suggesting that the subject has been checked for problems, errors, or undesirable qualities. Vet is informal compared with veterinarian when referring to the profession, but it is standard in everyday speech and workplace usage in both British and American English. Its usefulness lies in this combination: it names an animal specialist while also providing a concise verb for careful evaluation.
A veterinarian; a medical professional who diagnoses and treats illnesses or injuries in animals.
"We took the cat to the vet because she had stopped eating."
Common and informal; veterinarian is the full professional term.
To examine an animal medically or, by extension, to scrutinize and assess a person, plan, or proposal before approving it.
"The board vetted each application before conducting interviews."
The extended, figurative sense is especially common in British and American professional and informal usage.
The plural vets is standard when referring to animal doctors.
"The clinic employs three vets and a veterinary nurse."
Vet began as a familiar name for animal doctors and grew into a verb for putting anything under a sharp, skeptical microscope.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does vet come from?
The noun vet is an abbreviation of veterinarian, which comes through French from Latin veterīnārius, a word associated with the treatment of animals. The verb developed by extension from this veterinary sense and later came to mean examining or scrutinizing anything carefully. The related word veteran ultimately comes from Latin veteranus, derived from vetus, meaning old.
Related word forms
How vet is actually used
As a noun, vet is an everyday abbreviation for veterinarian and is widely used in both British and American English. As a verb, it is informal but common, especially when describing the careful screening of candidates, applications, claims, or proposals.
Easily confused with vet
Veterinarian is the full, formal term for an animal doctor, while vet is the common abbreviated form.