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/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɪʃəs

Adjective

pernicious (comparative more pernicious, superlative most pernicious)

1. Causing much harm in a subtle way.
   • 1911, Emma Goldman, The Hypocrisy of Puritanism

     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.

2. Causing death or injury; deadly.

   Synonyms: attery

Derived terms

• perniciousness
• perniciously

Related terms

• pernicious anaemia

Translations

causing much harm

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

  Mandarin: 有害 (zh) (yǒuhài)

• Dutch: schadelijk (nl), destructief (nl), verderfelijk (nl)
• Finnish: turmiollinen, haitallinen (fi), tuhoisa (fi)
• French: nocif (fr), malsain (fr), pernicieux (fr)
• German: schädlich (de), bösartig (de), verderblich (de), (medicine) perniziös (de)
• Greek: ολέθριος (el) m (oléthrios)
• Hungarian: ártalmas (hu)
• Italian: pernicioso (it)

• Japanese: 有害な (ゆうがい-な，yūkai-na)
• Macedonian: погубен m (póguben)
• 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
• Spanish: pernicioso (es)
• Turkish: habis (tr), muzır (tr), (medicine) pernisiyöz, zararlı (tr)

causing death or injury

• Bulgarian: гибелен (bg) (gíbelen), пагубен (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)

• Japanese: 致命的な (ちめいてき-な，chimeiteki-na)
• Macedonian: погубен m (póguben)
• Polish: zgubny (pl)
• Portuguese: mórbido (pt)
• Romanian: pernicios (ro), vătămător (ro), dăunător (ro)
• Russian: вре́дный (ru) (vrédnyj), ги́бельный (ru) (gíbelʹnyj)
• Spanish: pernicioso (es)
• Turkish: ölümcül (tr), (medicine) pernisiyöz

Anagrams

• superionic