perpetrate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin perpetrātus (“carried out, performed”), the past participle of perpetrō (“to carry through, execute, perform”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from per- (“thoroughly, completely”) and patrō (“to bring about, carry out”),^[4][2][5][7] itself from pater (“father”).^[7][2][6][8] Klein glosses the Latin verb as originally "to perform in the quality of a father",^[6] and Merriam-Webster as probably first "to perform a ritual", the father being a religious leader;^[3] Collins calls the link with pater only possible.^[9] The verb was preceded by the past-participial adjective perpetrate, committed, recorded from 1472–3 in the Rolls of Parliament, from which Barnhart says the verb developed,^[5][4] and by Middle English perpetren, from Old French perpetrer, recorded in a text of 1459.^[10][2] The OED dates the Old French verb to 1232 and compares Occitan perpetrar, Catalan perpetrar and Spanish perpetrar (1373).^[4] It is related to father.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To carry out or perform an action, in a neutral sense: 1535, in an Act of Parliament of Henry VIII.^[4] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1537,^[3][11] Barnhart to 1547^[5] and Etymonline to the 1540s.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the thing perpetrated could be good or bad,^[4][2][12] but because the English verb was first used in statutes about crimes, it took on the bad sense of committing a crime or wrong.^[2][12][13] The sense "to commit a criminal or harmful act" is recorded from 1542, in Udall's translation of Erasmus, and the OED notes that the English verb has been used largely in a bad sense.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to commit; to act", adding "always in an ill sense".^[14] From 1823, in Byron's Don Juan, it was also used humorously of doing something badly, such as a poem or a joke.^[4][11] In late 20th-century American campus and Black slang, perpetrate meant to pretend to be something one is not.^[15]

Timeline

• 1535 – to carry out or perform, in a neutral sense.^[4]
• 1542 – to commit a crime or other harmful act.^[4]
• 1823 – humorously, to produce something badly or ineptly.^[4]
• 1986 – US slang, to pretend, to put on a false front.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To commit or be responsible for a crime, fraud, deception or other wrong: The gang perpetrated a series of bank robberies.^{[9][16][11][3][4]}
2. Humorously, to produce or perform something regarded as an offence: He perpetrated a dreadful limerick at the wedding.^[11][4]
3. (US slang) To pretend to be what one is not; to pose.^[15]

Word family

• perpetration
• perpetrator
• unperpetrated

Related words

• father
• perpetuate
• impetrate

Usage notes

Collins warns that perpetrate and perpetuate are sometimes confused: one perpetrates a crime but perpetuates a myth.^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin