In English
In English, verbification typically involves simple conversion of a non-verb to a verb. The verbs to verbify and to verb, the first by derivation with an affix and the second by zero derivation, are themselves products of verbification (see autological word), and, as might be guessed, the term to verb is often used more specifically, to refer only to verbification that does not involve a change in form. (Verbing in that specific sense is therefore a kind of anthimeria.)
Examples of verbification in the English language number in the thousands, including some of the most common words such as mail and e-mail, strike, talk,[dubious – discuss] salt, pepper, switch, bed, sleep, ship, train, stop, drink, cup, lure, mutter, dress, dizzy, divorce, fool, merge, to be found throughout the dictionary. Thus, verbification is by no means confined to slang and has furnished English with countless new expressions: "access", as in "access the file", which was previously only a noun, as in "gain access to the file". Similar mainstream examples include "host", as in "host a party", and "chair", as in "chair the meeting". Other formations, such as "gift", are less widespread but still mainstream.
Verbification may have a bad reputation with some English users because it is such a potent source of neologisms. Although some neologism that are products of verbification may meet considerable opposition from prescriptivist authorities (the verb sense of impact is a well-known example), most such derivations have become so central to the language after several centuries of use that they no longer draw notice.
In many cases, the verbs were distinct from their noun counterparts in Old English, and regular sound change has made them the same form: these can be reanalysed as conversion. "Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk" is an example of a sentence using those forms.[citation needed]
A modern case of zero derivation in slang from popular culture might be seen in cringe, in the noun sense of "awkwardness, inducement of second-hand embarrassment".
In other languages
In other languages, verbification is a more regular process. However, such processes often do not qualify as conversion, as they involve changes in the form of the word. For example, in Esperanto, any word can be transformed into a verb by altering its ending to -i or by applying suffixes such as -igi and -iĝi; and in the Semitic languages, the process often involves changes of internal vowels, such as the Hebrew word "גגל" (Gigél, "He/it googled"), from the proper noun גוגל (Google). In Toki Pona, any content word may function as a noun, verb or adjective depending on syntax; for example, moku may mean food or to eat.