Definition: Verilog

A hardware description language (HDL) used to design electronic systems at component, board and system levels. Developed by Phil Morby at Gateway Design Automation, Verilog was introduced in 1985 along with the Verilog-XL logic simulator.

By the late 1980s, Verilog was the de facto standard for proprietary HDLs. After Cadence Design Automation acquired it in 1989 and put it into the public domain in 1990, Verilog became the IEEE 1364 standard in 1995 (Verilog 95).

SystemVerilog
SystemVerilog is an enhanced version from Accellera, an industry organization formed in 2000 by the consolidation of Open Verilog International (OVI) and VHDL International. See VHDL and RTL.

Hardware Description Languages

VHDL and Verilog are the most popular HDLs. These examples show a circuit described in RTL in both (top) and the resulting schematic of the gate level netlist created after synthesis (bottom). (Language and schematic examples from "HDL Chip Design" courtesy of Douglas J. Smith.)