pernicious

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French pernicios, from Latin perniciōsus (“destructive”), from perniciēs (“destruction”), from per (“through”) + nex (“slaughter, death”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈnɪʃəs/
• IPA^(key): /pɚˈnɪʃəs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɪʃəs

Adjective

pernicious (comparative more pernicious, superlative most pernicious)

1. Causing much harm in a subtle way.

   Synonyms: deleterious, (obsolete) venom

   • 1911, Emma Goldman, “The Hypocrisy of Puritanism”, in Anarchism and Other Essays:

     Puritanism no longer employs the thumbscrew and lash; but it still has a most pernicious hold on the minds and feelings of the American people.

   • 2017 March 22, Jacob Kastrenakes, “Medium launches memberships for $5 per month”, in The Verge‎^[1]:

     In January, the company laid off a third of its staff and renounced ads as a pernicious influence on the world, without mentioning that Google and Facebook are so good at ads there’s hardly room for anyone else to compete.

   • 2019 July 9, Toni Bentley, “What Do the Sex Lives of ‘Three Women’ Tell Us About Female Desire?”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     A man has always been a woman’s best excuse to avoid her destiny; that a man is her destiny is one of patriarchy’s most pernicious tenets. What a scam.

2. Causing death or injury; deadly.

   Synonym: attery

Derived terms

• perniciousness
• perniciously

Related terms

• pernicious anemia

Translations

causing much harm

• Bulgarian: па́губен (bg) (páguben)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有害 (zh) (yǒuhài)

• Dutch: schadelijk (nl), destructief (nl), verderfelijk (nl)
• Finnish: turmiollinen (fi), haitallinen (fi), tuhoisa (fi)
• French: nocif (fr), malsain (fr), pernicieux (fr)
• Georgian: მავნე (mavne), მავნებელი (mavnebeli), საზიანო (saziano), მაწყინარი (mac̣q̇inari)
• German: schädlich (de), bösartig (de), verderblich (de), (medicine) perniziös (de)
• Greek: ολέθριος (el) m (oléthrios)
• Hungarian: ártalmas (hu)
• Italian: pernicioso (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 有害な (ゆうがいな, yūkai na)
• Latin: perniciosus
• Macedonian: погубен m (poguben)
• Polish: groźny (pl) m, szkodliwy (pl), zgubny (pl) m
• Portuguese: pernicioso (pt)
• Romanian: pernicios (ro), vătămător (ro), dăunător (ro)
• Russian: тлетво́рный (ru) (tletvórnyj), па́губный (ru) (págubnyj), зловредный (ru) m (zlovrednyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgriosail
• Serbo-Croatian: štetan (sh)
• Spanish: pernicioso (es)
• Turkish: habis (tr), muzır (tr), (medicine) pernisiyöz, zararlı (tr)

causing death or injury

• Bulgarian: ги́белен (bg) (gíbelen), па́губен (bg) (páguben)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 致命 (zh) (zhìmìng)

• Dutch: dodelijk (nl), schadelijk (nl)
• Finnish: tappava (fi)
• French: nocif (fr), délétère (fr), nuisible (fr), dangereux (fr)
• German: (medicine) perniziös (de), tödlich (de)
• Greek: ολέθριος (el) m (oléthrios), θανατηφόρος (el) m (thanatifóros)
• Hungarian: veszedelmes (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 致命的な (ちめいてきな, chimeiteki na)
• Macedonian: погубен m (poguben)
• Polish: zgubny (pl)
• Portuguese: mórbido (pt)
• Romanian: pernicios (ro), vătămător (ro), dăunător (ro)
• Russian: вре́дный (ru) (vrédnyj), ги́бельный (ru) (gíbelʹnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: poguban (sh)
• Spanish: pernicioso (es)
• Turkish: ölümcül (tr), (medicine) pernisiyöz

Etymology 2

Analyzable as pernīx ("swift") + -ious.

Adjective

pernicious (comparative more pernicious, superlative most pernicious)

1. (obsolete) swift; celeritous.

Related terms

• pernicity

Anagrams

• superionic