perché

See also: perche, Perche, perchè, pèrche, and perche'

French

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Participle

perché (feminine perchée, masculine plural perchés, feminine plural perchées)

1. past participle of percher

Adjective

perché (feminine perchée, masculine plural perchés, feminine plural perchées)

1. perched
2. (slang, dated) high, intoxicated
3. (slang) not mentally sound, disconnected from reality

Derived terms

• chat perché
• chéper

Further reading

• “perché”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• pécher, pêcher
• prêche, prêché

Italian

Alternative forms

• perchè, perche' (misspellings)
• perche (obsolete)

Etymology

Univerbation of per (“for”) +‎ che (“which”), probably inherited from Vulgar Latin. Compare Neapolitan pecché, Sicilian pirchì, and further Romance parallels such as Sardinian pro chite, French pourquoi, Spanish porque/por qué, Portuguese porque/por que.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /perˈke/^*
  • Rhymes: -e
  • Hyphenation: per‧ché
• (Lombardy, parts of Emilia-Romagna) IPA^(key): /perˈkɛ/^*

  • Audio:

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɛ

Conjunction

perché

1. because, why

   L'ho fatto perché volevo. ― I did it because I wanted to.

2. (+ subj.) so, so that, in order that

   L'ho fatto perché potesse essere libero. ― I did it so that he could be free.

Adverb

perché

1. why

   Synonym: come mai

   Perché il cielo è azzurro? ― Why is the sky blue?

Derived terms

• perché mai
• perché no

Noun

perché m (uncountable)

1. the whys, the reason (why)

   Vorrei proprio sapere il perché. ― I would really like to know the reason.

   Non so perché, ma non mi sento bene. ― I don't know why, but I don't feel well.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peɾˈt͡ʃe/ [peɾˈt͡ʃe]
• Rhymes: -e
• Syllabification: per‧ché

Verb

perché

1. first-person singular preterite indicative of perchar