per-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "per"

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin per and per-.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Prefix

per-

2. (non-productive) In verbs: denoting the sense "through", as in perforate.
4. (non-productive) In verbs: denoting the sense "thoroughly", as in perfect.
6. (non-productive) In verbs: denoting the sense "to destruction", as in pervert.
8. (non-productive) In adjectives and adverbs: denoting the sense "extremely", as in perfervid.
10. (chemistry) Forming nouns and adjectives denoting the maximum proportion of one element in a compound, as in peroxide.
12. (chemistry) Added to the name of an element in a polyatomic ion to denote the number of atoms of that element (usually four).

Synonyms

• (through): trans-, para-, dia-
• (thoroughly): para-

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with per-

Related terms

• (extremely): pellucid, perfervid

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old French per (modern French par).

Prefix

per-

2. (non-productive) Denoting the sense "by" or "per", as in perchance or perhaps.

Anagrams

• EPR, ERP, RPE, Rep, Rep., pre, pre-, rep

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin per-.

Prefix

per-

1. used to make superlatives of adjectives and adverbs

   perguapu

   very beautiful

   perblancu

   very white

   perbién

   very well

   perlloñe

   very far

See also

• -ísimu

Esperanto

Etymology

Back-formation from per.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [per]
• Hyphenation: per

Prefix

per-

1. 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

Esperanto terms prefixed with per-

French

Etymology

From Latin per-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ/

Prefix

per-

1. per-

Derived terms

French terms prefixed with per-

Further reading

• “per-”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Hungarian

Etymology

From Latin per (“through”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpɛr]
• Hyphenation: per
• Rhymes: -ɛr

Prefix

per-

1. (chemistry) per-

Derived terms

Hungarian nouns prefixed with per-

Indonesian

Etymology

Inherited from Malay per-, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *paʀ. Cognate with Tagalog pag-.

• comparable to Proto-Austroasiatic *p-, *pC- (“causative prefix”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pər-/
• Hyphenation: pêr

Prefix

pêr (non-active/imperative/basic per-, active memper-, passive diper-)

1. causative voice imperative mood intransitive verb prefix of a transitive verb

   ‎per- + ‎buat (“to do [something]”) → ‎perbuat (“do [something]”)

2. causative voice imperative mood intransitive verb prefix of an adjective

   ‎per- + ‎besar (“big”) → ‎perbesar (“make bigger something big”)

3. imperative mood transitive verb of a noun: treat the object as [base], take the object as [base]

   ‎per- + ‎istri (“wife”) → ‎peristri (“take as wife, marry”)

4. nominal patient used to form nouns from verbs conjugated with ber-

   ‎per- + ‎ajar (“to teach”) → ‎pelajar (“learner”)

   ‎per- + ‎kerja (“to work”) → ‎pekerja (“worker”)

5. denominator of a fraction

   ‎per- + ‎dua (“two”) → ‎perdua

Usage notes

• When this prefix is combined with the prefixes meng-, di-, ter-, and ke-, the imperative aspect is lost
• 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 only used in the words ajar and unjur together with their derivatives.

Derived terms

• per- -an
• per- -kan

 

Indonesian terms prefixed with per-

Further reading

• “per-” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *peri-. Related to per (“through”).

Prefix

per-

1. Used to make adjectives or verbs that are "very" something.

   magnus (“great, large”) → permagnus (“very great, very large”)

   multī (“many”) → permultī (“very many”)

2. Used to form verbs that are intensive or completive, conveying the idea of doing something all the way through or entirely.

Derived terms

Latin terms prefixed with per-

See also

• -ior
• -issimus

Malay

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *paR- (“divide into x (x = numeral)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pər/
• Rhymes: -ər

Prefix

per- (Jawi spelling ڤر)

1. abstraction, place, goal, result

   Perlawanan ― Match (game)

2. divided by X numeral

   Satu perdua ― One divided by two

3. each, per

   Synonyms: tiap-tiap, se-

   40 km per jam ― 40 km per hour

Derived terms

Malay terms prefixed with per-

Descendants

• Indonesian: per-

Further reading

• “per” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*paR-₂”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

Spanish

Prefix

per-

1. per-

Derived terms

Spanish terms prefixed with per-

Further reading

• “per-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28