perishable

Etymology

It is formed from English perish + -able,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} with which compare Middle French périssable (end of the 14th century).^[2] Etymonline takes the late-15th-century word from French périssable and the modern form, from the 1610s, as formed directly from perish.^[7] Perish is from Old French perir, through its extended stem, from pereō (“to be lost, perish”), literally "to go through", from per (“through”) and eō (“to go”).^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Liable to perish; subject to destruction, decay or death: about 1484, in a translation of the Secreta Secretorum.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was used both of mortal and impermanent things and of food and other organic matter that decays quickly.^[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as liable to perish, subject to decay, of short duration.^[8] The plural noun perishables, goods such as food that spoil quickly, is recorded by the OED from 1742, in Richardson's letters,^[2][3] though Etymonline dates it to 1895.^[7] Byron used a perishable for a mortal, a human being (1822),^[2] and Mary Shelley the perishable for that which is mortal (1826).^[2][3] In Gloucestershire dialect perishable meant wretched or miserable.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1484 – liable to perish or decay.^[2][3]
• 1742 – noun, in the plural, perishable goods, especially food.^[2]
• 1822 – noun, a mortal, a human being (obsolete).^[2]
• 1826 – the perishable, that which is mortal.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Liable to decay or spoil quickly, especially of food: perishable goods like milk and fish.^[10][4][2]
2. Subject to death, destruction or decline; not durable or lasting.^[4][2]

Noun

1. Something that decays quickly, especially a foodstuff; usually in the plural.^[10][4][2]
2. (rare) the perishable: that which is mortal or impermanent.^[2][3]

Word family

• perishability
• perishably
• nonperishable

Related words

• perish
• imperishable
• perishing

References

1. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ 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)
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins