perennial

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin perennis (“lasting through the year or years”) with the English suffix -al,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} formed from per- (“through, throughout”) and annus (“year”),^[2][4][5][8] with the a of annus weakened to e in the compound.^[8] The preposition is from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“forward, through”),^[4] and the American Heritage Dictionary refers annus to the root Proto-Indo-European *at-.^[5] The OED compares Middle French pérenne (“perpetual”) (1588, in Montaigne), Spanish perenne and Italian perenne (“long-lasting”), and notes an earlier English adjective perennal.^[2] It is related to annual and biennial.^[4][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of plants or their leaves, remaining green all year, evergreen: in Evelyn's Diary for 1644,^[3][2][4] a passage the OED dates about 1660.^[2] Weekley also notes Evelyn's use of the word for "evergreen".^[9]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, "evergreen", went out of use by the end of the 18th century.^[2][4][10] The botanical sense "living for more than two years" followed in 1669 in the Philosophical Transactions,^[2] or in the early 1670s according to Barnhart and Etymonline,^[3][4] and the use for springs and streams that flow all year round in 1676.^[2] The general sense "lasting a long time, enduring" is recorded from 1717 in the OED,^[2] while Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1750, in Johnson's Rambler;^[3][4] Johnson's Dictionary (1755) gives "lasting through the year" and "perpetual; unceasing".^[11] The noun, a perennial plant, is from before 1678 in the OED^[2][10] but 1763 in Barnhart and Etymonline;^[3][4] since 1748 it has also meant something that keeps recurring, now especially a perennial problem.^[2][5] Later technical senses describe plankton present in every season (1900) and allergies that last all year (1920).^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1644 – evergreen, in Evelyn's Diary (obsolete by 1795).^[3][2]
• 1669 – of plants, living for a number of years.^[2]
• 1676 – of springs and streams, flowing all year.^[2]
• before 1678 – noun, a perennial plant.^[2][10]
• 1717 – lasting through a long time; enduring.^[2]
• 1748 – noun, something that lasts or recurs.^[2]
• 1845 – recurring year after year.^[2]
• 1900 – ecology, of plankton present in every season.^[2]
• 1920 – medicine, of an allergy present all year.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lasting or active all through the year: a perennial spring.^{[5][10][2][12]}
2. Of a plant, living for more than two years.^[5][12][2]
3. Lasting a very long time; enduring or everlasting.^[5][12][2]
4. Coming back again and again; recurrent: a perennial favourite with audiences.^[5][2]
5. Of an allergy, present in all seasons.^[10][2]
6. (obsolete, 1644–1795) Evergreen.^[2][10]

Noun

1. A perennial plant: She planted perennials along the fence.^[5][10][12]
2. Something that lasts or keeps coming back, especially a recurring problem.^[2][5]

Word family

• perennially
• perenniality

Related words

• perennate
• annual
• biennial
• annals

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins