Etymologically
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perish

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpɛɹɪʃ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English perissen, later perishen,[2][3] borrowed from Old French periss-, the extended stem of perir (“to perish, be lost, be shipwrecked”),[4][5][2][6] from Latin pereō (“to be lost, to die, to come to an end”),[4][5][7] literally "to go through" or "to pass away",[5][8] formed from per- (“through, completely, to destruction”) and eō (“to go”).[5][9][7] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ei- (“to go”).[5][7] The Anglo-Norman verb, recorded from the first quarter of the 12th century, already meant to die, to be destroyed, to be wrecked and to go off.[10] The English ending reflects this extended French stem.[4][11][12] Compare perir, perire and perecer.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, to suffer a violent or untimely death; and to suffer spiritual death, to be damned: about 1275, in the Kentish Sermons.[4][5][2]

Semantic evolution

From the mid-14th century the verb was used of ships (to founder), of immaterial things such as customs (to come to an end), and of objects (to decay or rot).[4][5] Middle English also used it transitively, "to destroy, to kill", a use the OED thinks was first borrowed from French, where the past participle was used early as an adjective;[4][5] the active transitive use died out in the 17th century,[4] and Johnson (1755) marked it "not in use".[13] Weekley sees it surviving in perishing cold;[14] since 1750 the present participle has been used of someone suffering badly from cold or hunger, often as an exaggeration.[4] In northern English, Scots and Irish dialect perish meant to kill or starve with cold, or to be half dead with it.[15] From 1879 the verb was used of rubber losing its elasticity.[4] The phrase perish the thought became current through Colley Cibber's adaptation of Richard III (1700).[8][14] In Australia to do a perish, to come near death from thirst or hunger, is recorded from 1894.[4][16][17]

Timeline

  • c. 1275 – to die, especially violently; to be damned.[4][2]
  • c. 1300 – transitive, to destroy, kill.[5]
  • c. 1350 – of a ship, to founder; of a custom or belief, to come to an end.[4]
  • before 1382 – of an object, to decay or rot.[4]
  • 1750 – perishing, suffering severely from cold or hunger.[4]
  • 1879 – of rubber, to lose its elasticity.[4]
  • 1894 – to do a perish, in Australia.[4][16]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To die, especially in a violent or untimely way: Hundreds perished when the dam burst.[18][17][4]
  2. To be destroyed or ruined; to come to an end or cease to exist.[17][4]
  3. To rot or decay; of rubber or leather, to lose its quality and become brittle or sticky.[18][4]
  4. (chiefly British, usually passive or in perishing) To make or be extremely cold or hungry: We were perished after waiting an hour at the bus stop.[18][4][15]
  5. perish the thought: may it never happen.[18][8]
  6. (obsolete) To destroy or put an end to.[4][13]

Noun

  1. (Australian, informal) do a perish: to come near to dying, especially of thirst or hunger, or to suffer great privation.[18][17][4]

Word family

  • unperished
  • perishable
  • perisher
  • exit
  • itinerant

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  17. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  18. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins