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per-. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
per-, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
per- in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
per- you have here. The definition of the word
per- will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
per-, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Latin per and per-.
Prefix
per-
- (non-productive) In verbs: denoting the sense "through", as in perforate.
- (non-productive) In verbs: denoting the sense "thoroughly", as in perfect.
- (non-productive) In verbs: denoting the sense "to destruction", as in pervert.
- (non-productive) In adjectives and adverbs: denoting the sense "extremely", as in perfervid.
- (chemistry) Forming nouns and adjectives denoting the maximum proportion of one element in a compound, as in peroxide.
- (chemistry) Added to the name of an element in a polyatomic ion to denote the number of atoms of that element (usually four).
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Old French per (modern French par).
Prefix
per-
- (non-productive) Denoting the sense "by" or "per", as in perchance or perhaps.
Anagrams
Asturian
Etymology
From Latin per-.
Prefix
per-
- used to make superlatives of adjectives and adverbs
See also
Esperanto
Etymology
Back-formation from per.
Pronunciation
Prefix
per-
- denotes that the action expressed by the root becomes a means to attain a goal
- per- + labori (“to work”) → perlabori (“to earn”)
- per- + ludi (“to play”) → perludi (“to win”)
- per- + flati (“to flatter”) → perflati (“to coax”)
Derived terms
French
Etymology
From Latin per-.
Pronunciation
Prefix
per-
- per-
Derived terms
Further reading
Hungarian
Etymology
From Latin per (“through”).
Pronunciation
Prefix
per-
- (chemistry) per-
Derived terms
References
Indonesian
Etymology
From Malay per-, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *paʀ. Cognate with Tagalog pag-.
Pronunciation
Prefix
per-
- causative voice imperative mood intransitive verb prefix of a transitive verb
- per- + buat (“to do ”) → perbuat (“do ”)
- causative voice imperative mood intransitive verb prefix of an adjective
- per- + besar (“big”) → perbesar (“make bigger something big”)
- imperative mood transitive verb of a noun: treat the object as , take the object as
- per- + istri (“wife”) → peristri (“take as wife, marry”)
- nominal patient used to form nouns from verbs conjugated with ber-
- per- + ajar (“to teach”) → pelajar (“learner”)
- per- + kerja (“to work”) → pekerja (“worker”)
- denominator of a fraction
- per- + dua (“two”) → perdua
Usage notes
- pe- is used in word with initial /r/ or word with final /-ər.C-/ in first syllable
- However, some words that don't have /-ər.C-/ used this suffix inconsistently (per- + desa + -an > pedesaan).
- pel- is used in word ajar and its derivatives.
Derived terms
Further reading
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *peri-. Related to per (“through”).
Prefix
per-
- Used to make adjectives or verbs that are "very" something.
- magnus (“great, large”) → permagnus (“very great, very large”)
- multī (“many”) → permultī (“very many”)
- Used to form verbs that are intensive or completive, conveying the idea of doing something all the way through or entirely.
Derived terms
See also
Malay
Etymology
From Proto-Austronesian *paR- (“divide into x (x = numeral)”).
Pronunciation
Prefix
per- (Jawi spelling ڤر)
- abstraction, place, goal, result
- Perlawanan ― Match (game)
- divided by X numeral
- Satu perdua ― One divided by two
- each, per
- Synonyms: tiap-tiap, se-
- 40 km per jam ― 40 km per hour
Derived terms
Descendants
Further reading
- “per” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.
- Blust, Robert, Trussel, Stephen (2010–) “*paR-₂”, in The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary
Spanish
Prefix
per-
- per-
Derived terms
Further reading