perish

English

Etymology

From Middle English perishen, borrowed from Old French perir (via the stem periss- used in various conjugations), from Latin perīre (“pass away, perish”), from per (“through”) + īre (“pass, go”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛɹɪʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪʃ
• Homophone: parish (some accents)
• Hyphenation: per‧ish

Verb

perish (third-person singular simple present perishes, present participle perishing, simple past and past participle perished)

1. (intransitive) To decay and disappear; to waste away to nothing.
   • 1881, Tarafa, translated by W. A. Clouston, The Poem of Tarafa

     I consider time as a treasure decreasing every night; and that which every day diminishes soon perishes for ever.

2. (intransitive) To decay in such a way that it cannot be used for its original purpose
   • 2015, Christopher Cumo, Foods that Changed History:

     The difficulty is that fresh foods perish due to the multiplication in them of harmful bacteria.

3. (intransitive) To die; to cease to live.

   Synonyms: decease, pass away; see also Thesaurus:die

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 11:10:

     When it goeth well with the righteous, the citie reioyceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.

   • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:

     […] the ship struck upon a sand, and […] the sea broke over her in such a manner that we expected we should all have perished immediately; and we were immediately driven into our close quarters, to shelter us from the very foam and spray of the sea.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to perish.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Friendship”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     that closeness did impair and a little perish his understanding

   • 1898, William Pett Ridge, By Order of the Magistrate, page 209:

     "Leggo my shou'der, I tell you! Leggo!" He struggled with her, and the customers came forward. "Chrise! I'll perish you, if you ain't careful!" He turned suddenly,...

Derived terms

• perish the thought
• publish or perish

 

Related terms

• perishable

Translations

to decay and disappear; to waste away to nothing

• Aromanian: cher
• Catalan: perir (ca)
• Dutch: vergaan (nl), bederven (nl)
• Esperanto: perei
• Finnish: näivettyä (fi), kadota (fi)
• French: périr (fr)
• Friulian: perî
• Galician: perecer (gl)
• Georgian: დაღუპვა (daɣuṗva)
• German: verderben (de), schlecht werden (food)
• Greek:

  Ancient: φθείρομαι (phtheíromai)

• Indonesian: binasa (id), musnah (id)
• Irish:

  Old Irish: ara·chrin

• Italian: perire (it)
• Korean: 죽다 (ko) (jukda), 비명횡사하다 (bimyeonghoengsahada)
• Latgalian: gaist
• Latin: pereō, perbitō, abolesco
• Latvian: zust
• Lithuanian: žūti
• Malay: musnah
• Maori: tipoko
• Old Saxon: āgangan
• Portuguese: perecer (pt)
• Quechua: wañuy
• Romanian: pieri (ro)
• Russian: пропада́ть (ru) impf (propadátʹ), пропа́сть (ru) pf (propástʹ), по́ртиться (ru) impf (pórtitʹsja), испо́ртиться (ru) pf (ispórtitʹsja)
• Sanskrit: नश्यति (sa) (naśyati)
• Spanish: perecer (es)

to decay in such a way that it cannot be used for its original purpose

• Finnish: pilaantua (fi)

to die, to pass away — see also die

• Azerbaijani: həlak olmaq
• Belarusian: гі́нуць impf (hínucʹ), згі́нуць pf (zhínucʹ)
• Bulgarian: заги́вам (bg) impf (zagívam), заги́на pf (zagína)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 死亡 (zh) (sǐwáng), 死 (zh) (sǐ), 殞／殒 (zh) (yǔn)

• Czech: hynout (cs) impf, zahynout (cs) pf, zhynout (cs) pf
• Danish: omkomme (da)
• Dutch: omkomen (nl), sterven (nl), vergaan (nl)
• Esperanto: perei
• Finnish: menehtyä (fi)
• French: périr (fr)
• Galician: perecer (gl)
• German: umkommen (de), ums Leben kommen (de), verenden (de)(animals), verderben (de) (archaic)
• Greek:

  Ancient: φθείρομαι (phtheíromai)

• Irish:

  Old Irish: ara·chrin

• Japanese: 死ぬ (ja) (しぬ, shinu), 亡びる (ja) (ほろびる, horobiru), 滅びる (ja) (ほろびる, horobiru), 滅亡する (ja) (めつぼうする, metsubō suru)
• Korean: 죽다 (ko) (jukda), 멸망하다 (ko) (myeolmanghada)
• Latin: pereō, aboriscor
• Macedonian: гине impf (gine), загине pf (zagine)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: үхэх (mn) (üxex)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: omkomme (no)

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: гꙑбнѫти impf (gybnǫti), погꙑбнѫти pf (pogybnǫti)

• Old East Slavic: гꙑнꙋти impf (gynuti), гꙑбнꙋти impf (gybnuti)
• Plautdietsch: omkomen
• Polish: ginąć (pl) impf, zginąć (pl) pf
• Russian: ги́бнуть (ru) impf (gíbnutʹ), погиба́ть (ru) impf (pogibátʹ), поги́бнуть (ru) pf (pogíbnutʹ)
• Sanskrit: नश्यति (sa) (náśyati), म्रियते (sa) (mriyáte), मरति (márati)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: поги́бати impf, по̀гинути pf

  Roman: pogíbati (sh) impf, pòginuti (sh) pf

• Slovak: hynúť impf, zahynúť pf, zhynúť pf (literary)
• Slovene: poginjati impf, poginiti pf
• Spanish: perecer (es)
• Swahili: kuangamia
• Swedish: omkomma (sv)
• Tocharian B: naut-
• Ukrainian: ги́нути impf (hýnuty) (perish), зги́нути pf (zhýnuty), заги́нути pf (zahýnuty), погиба́ти impf (pohybáty), поги́бнути pf (pohýbnuty), поги́нути pf (pohýnuty)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: perir (ca)
• Cornish: merwel
• Czech: zaniknout (cs), zahynout (cs)
• Dutch: wegkwijnen (nl)
• French: périr (fr)
• Hebrew: אבד (he) (avád)
• Italian: perire (it)
• Japanese: 亡びる (ja) (ほろびる, horobiru), 滅びる (ja) (ほろびる, horobiru), 死ぬ (ja) (しぬ, shinu)
• Korean: 멸망하다 (ko) (myeolmanghada)
• Old English: forweorþan
• Romanian: pieri (ro)
• Russian: погиба́ть (ru) impf (pogibátʹ), пасть (ru) pf (pastʹ), умира́ть (ru) impf (umirátʹ), умере́ть (ru) pf (umerétʹ), сги́нуть (ru) pf (sgínutʹ)
• Vietnamese: diệt vong (vi)
• Welsh: aballu (cy)

Further reading

• “perish”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “perish”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• hipers, pisher, reship, seriph