perforate

English

Etymology

From Latin perforō (“I bore or pierce through; I perforate”), from per- (“through, thorough”) + forō (“I bore, I pierce”)

Pronunciation

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Verb

perforate (third-person singular simple present perforates, present participle perforating, simple past and past participle perforated)

1. (transitive) To pierce; to penetrate.
2. (transitive) To make a line of holes in (a thin material) to allow separation at the line.

   to perforate a sheet of postage stamps

Troponyms

• (to pierce, penetrate): drill, punch

Derived terms

• perforation
• perforator
• imperforate

Translations

to pierce or penetrate

• Basque: zulatu
• Catalan: perforar (ca)
• Danish: perforere
• Finnish: rei’ittää, lävistää (fi), puhkaista (fi)
• Galician: perforar (gl)
• German: perforieren (de)
• Greek: διατρυπώ (el) (diatrypó), τρυπώ (el) (trypó)

  Ancient: τετραίνω (tetraínō)

• Irish: toll
• Latin: terebrō
• Maori: pokapoka, mōhukihuki, whao, tioka
• Portuguese: perfurar (pt)
• Russian: просве́рливать (ru) (prosvérlivatʹ), проника́ть (ru) (pronikátʹ)
• Santali: ᱨᱳᱜ (rok’)
• Spanish: perforar (es)

to make a line of holes

• Finnish: rei’ittää
• Galician: ^{(please verify)} perforar (gl)
• Maori: tīokaoka

• Portuguese: perfurar (pt)
• Russian: перфори́ровать (ru) (perforírovatʹ)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} perforar (es)

Adjective

perforate (not comparable)

1. (philately, biology) perforated
   • 1999 Nguyen Van Dzu and Peter C. Boyce. Kew Bulletin 54(2):379-393.

     A species of remarkable appearance with mature leaf laminae often so profoundly perforate as to resemble a fragile net of tissue.

Translations

perforated — see perforated

References

• “perforate” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

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Italian

Verb

perforate

1. second-person plural present indicative of perforare
2. second-person plural imperative of perforare
3. feminine plural of perforato

Anagrams

• profetare, profeterà

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Latin

Verb

perforāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of perforō