perspiration

English

Etymology

Borrowed from late Middle French perspiration, from perspirer (“perspire”), from Latin perspirare (“to blow or breathe constantly”), from per (“through”) + spirare (“to breathe, blow”) Morphologically perspire +‎ -ation

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpɜːspəˈɹeɪʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpɝspəˈɹeɪʃən/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• Hyphenation: per‧spi‧ra‧tion

Noun

perspiration (usually uncountable, plural perspirations)

1. The action or process of perspiring.
   • 1627, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or, A Naturall Historie, London: W. Lee, Cent. VII, section 680, page 170:

     The Cauſe may be Want of Perſpiration : For Much of the Matter of Haire, in the other Parts of the Body, goeth forth by Inſenſible Perſpiration ; And beſides, the Skull being of a more ſolide Subſtance, nouriſheth and aſſimilateth leſſe, and excerneth more.

2. (by extension) Hard work.
   • 1910, Frank Lewis Dyer, Thomas Commerford Martin, quoting Thomas Edison, Edison: His Life and Inventions, volume II, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 607:

     Genius is 1 per cent. inspiration and 99 per cent. perspiration.

3. A saline fluid secreted by the sweat glands; sweat.

Synonyms

• sweat
• hidrosis
• diaphoresis

Derived terms

• genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration

Related terms

• perspire
• transpiration

Translations

process of perspiring

• Arabic: عَرَق m (ʕaraq)
• Armenian: քրտնում (hy) (kʻrtnum), քրտնարտադրություն (hy) (kʻrtnartadrutʻyun)
• Bashkir: тирләү (tirləw)
• Bulgarian: потене n (potene), изпотяване n (izpotjavane)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 流汗 (zh) (liúhàn), 汗 (zh) (hàn)

• Czech: pocení n, perspirace f
• Dutch: zweet (nl) n
• Esperanto: ŝvitado
• Finnish: hikoilu (fi), hikoileminen (fi)
• French: transpiration (fr) f
• Galician: transpiración (gl) f
• German: Schwitzen n
• Greek: εφίδρωση (el) f (efídrosi)
• Hungarian: izzadás (hu), verítékezés
• Italian: sudore (it) m
• Japanese: 汗 (ja) (あせ, ase)
• Khmer: ញើស (km) (ñəəh)
• Korean: 땀 (ko) (ttam)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: sudor (la) m
• Mongolian: хөлс (mn) (xöls)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: transpirasjon m

  Nynorsk: transpirasjon m

• Plautdietsch: Schweet m
• Polish: perspiracja f, pocenie się n
• Portuguese: suor (pt) m, transpiração (pt) f, perspiração f
• Russian: поте́ние (ru) n (poténije)
• Spanish: sudor (es) m
• Swedish: svett (sv) n, svettning (sv) c
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: đổ mồ hôi

sweat — see sweat

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

perspiration f (plural perspirations)

1. perspiration

Further reading

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