've

/v//əv//ə/

verb

Have (in its sense marking the perfect or retrospective aspect).

Meanings

verb've (clitic)

alternative -a · alternative of

  1. cliticHave (in its sense marking the perfect or retrospective aspect).

    Santorum, in a comment regarding Senator John McCain's repudiation of torture, stated, "He doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they've broken they become cooperative" (Summers 2011).

    2015 November 30, Shane O'Mara, Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 12
  2. cliticHave (in its other uses).

    "...Where's the ladies' in this joint? I've to powder me nose."

    1996, Deirdre Purcell, Roses After Rain, page 335
    1 more example

    Do n’t tell me you ‘have n’t got time,’ / That other things claim your attention; / There ’s not the least reason or rhyme / In the wisest excuse you can mention: / Do n’t tell me about ‘other fish,’ / Your duty is done when you buy ’em; / And you never will relish the dish, / Unless you ’ve a woman to ‘fry ’em.’

    1845 March, “Editor’s Table”, in The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XXV, New York, N.Y.: […] John Allen, […], page 267, columns 1–2

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  2. Proto-Germanic*habjaną
  3. Proto-West Germanic*habbjan
  4. Old Englishhabban
  5. Middle Englishhaven
  6. Englishhave
  7. English've

Contraction of have.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

of (postconsonantal 've only, unstressed of only)
Cite this entry
APA

've. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/'ve

MLA

“'ve.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/'ve. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “'ve,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/'ve.

Source: 've on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.