pierce

See also Pierce

English

Etymology

Old French percier, from its conjugated forms such as (jeo) pierce (“I pierce”), probably from Late Latin *pertusiare, from Latin pertusus, past participle of pertundere (“to thrust or bore through”), from per- (“through”) + tundere (“to beat, pound”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)s

Verb

pierce (third-person singular simple present pierces, present participle piercing, simple past and past participle pierced)

1. (transitive) to puncture; to break through

   The diver pierced the surface of the water with scarcely a splash.

2. (transitive) to create a hole in the skin for the purpose of inserting jewelry

   Can you believe he pierced his tongue?

3. (transitive) to break or interrupt abruptly

   A scream pierced the darkness.

Derived terms

• piercing

Descendants

• Japanese: ピアス

Translations

puncture

• Catalan: foradar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 刺穿 (cmn) (cìchuān), 穿 (cmn) (chuān)

• Finnish: lävistää (fi), puhkaista (fi)
• French: percer (fr)
• German: durchstechen (de)
• Greek: τρυπώ (el) (tripó), διαπερνώ (el) (diapernó), διεισδύω (el) (di'isdío), τορέω (el) (toréō)
• Irish: toll (ga), poll (ga) m
• Italian: pungere (it)
• Japanese: 刺す (ja) (さす, sasu)

• Norwegian: punktere (no), trenge gjennom (no), perforere (no)
• Portuguese: furar (pt), perfurar (pt)
• Romanian: străpunge (ro)
• Russian: протыкать (ru) (protykát') impf., проткнуть (ru) (protknút') pf., прокалывать (ru) (prokályvat') impf., проколоть (ru) (prokolót') pf., пронзать (ru) (pronzát') impf., пронзить (ru) (pronzít') pf.
• Santali: ᱥᱳ (so)
• Serbo-Croatian: probušiti (sh)
• Spanish: perforar (es)
• Swedish: punktera (sv), bryta (sv) genom, göra hål på (sv)

create a hole for jewelry

• French: percer (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: piercen (de)
• Greek: τρυπώ (el) (tripó)
• Italian: perforare (it)

• Norwegian: ta hull (no)
• Russian: прокалывать (ru) (prokályvat') impf., проколоть (ru) (prokolót') pf., протыкать (ru) (protykát') impf., проткнуть (ru) (protknút') pf.
• Swedish: ta hål (sv), pierca (sv)
• Turkish: deldirmek (tr)

interrupt

• Finnish: lävistää (fi)
• French: percer (fr)
• Greek: διαπερνώ (el) (diapernó)

• Italian: squarciare (it)
• Russian: прерывать (ru) (preryvatʹ)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dyirbal: nyirrindan (Jalnguy)

• Korean: 뚫다 (ttulhda)

Anagrams

• recipe