pervert

English

Etymology

From Old French pervertir, itself from the Latin pervertō.

Pronunciation

• (noun)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpəː.vət/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɚ.vɚt/
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)və(ɹ)t
• (verb)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pəˈvəːt/

    • Audio (Southern England)

      (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /pɚˈvɚt/
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t

Noun

pervert (plural perverts)

1. (dated) One who has been perverted; one who has turned to error; one who has turned to a twisted sense of values or morals.
2. A person whose sexual habits are not considered acceptable.

   Synonym: (slang) perv

   Antonym: normophile

   Those perverts were trying to spy on us while we changed clothes!

   • 1951, J. D. Salinger, chapter 24, in The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC:

     I know more damn perverts, at schools and all, than anybody you ever met, and they're always being perverty when I'm around.

Usage notes

• In contemporary usage, pervert is usually understood to refer to a sexually perverted person. Traditionally, the word was mainly associated with persons of false religious beliefs.

Derived terms

• tervert

Translations

one who has turned to error

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 墮落者／堕落者 (duòluòzhě)

• Esperanto: perversulo, perversiulo, devojiĝanto
• Finnish: pervertti
• French: déviant (fr) m, pervers (fr) m
• Japanese: 変質者 (へんしつしゃ, henshitsusha)
• Latin: perversus m
• Russian: дегенера́т (ru) m (degenerát)

sexually perverted person

• Arabic: مُنْحَرِف m (munḥarif), مُنْحَرِفَة f (munḥarifa)
• Armenian: ուրացող (hy) (uracʻoġ)
• Belarusian: вычварэ́нец m (vyčvarénjec)
• Bulgarian: извратеняк m (izvratenjak)
• Burmese: နှာဘူး (hnabhu:)
• Cebuano: manyak
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 性變態者／性变态者 (xìngbiàntàizhě), 色狼 (zh) (sèláng)

• Danish: perverst menneske
• Dutch: perverseling
• Esperanto: perversulo
• Estonian: pervert (et)
• Finnish: pervertti, pervo (fi) (colloquial)
• French: pervers (fr) m
• Georgian: გარყვნილი (garq̇vnili)
• German: Perversling m
• Greek: ανώμαλος (el) m (anómalos)
• Hebrew: סוֹטֶה m (sote)
• Icelandic: öfuguggi m, pervert m, perri m (colloquial)
• Indonesian: cabul (id), mesum (id)
• Italian: pervertito (it) m, pervertita (it) f
• Japanese: 痴漢 (ja) (ちかん, chikan), 性的倒錯者 (せいてきとうさくしゃ, seitekitōsakusha), 変態 (ja) (へんたい, hentai)
• Korean: 변태(變態) (ko) (byeontae)
• Latin: obscēnus m, obscēna f
• Lithuanian: iškrypėlis (lt) m, (milder) ištvirkėlis m
• Macedonian: изопа́ченик m (izopáčenik), пе́рверзник m (pérverznik)
• Polish: zboczeniec (pl) m (colloquial), dewiant (pl) m
• Portuguese: pervertido (pt) m, tarado (pt) m
• Russian: извраще́нец (ru) m (izvraščénec), перве́рт (ru) m (pervért), пе́рверт (ru) m (pérvert)
• Spanish: pervertido (es) m
• Tagalog: bastos, manyak, manyakis (slang)
• Turkish: sapık (tr)
• Ukrainian: збо́ченець m (zbóčenecʹ)
• Welsh: gwyrdröwr

Verb

pervert (third-person singular simple present perverts, present participle perverting, simple past and past participle perverted)

1. (transitive) To turn another way; to divert.

   Synonyms: divert, steer, veer

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline:

     Let's follow him, and pervert the present wrath.

2. (transitive) To corrupt; to cause to be untrue; corrupted or otherwise impure

   Synonyms: corrupt, lead astray

   How could stopping someone from killing himself or herself "pervert the course of justice"?

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

     He, in the serpent, had perverted Eve.

   • 1690, “The Preface to the Reader”, in A Full and True Relation of the Great and Wonderful Revolution That Hapned Lately in the Kingdom of Siam in the East-Indies, London: Randal Taylor, page vi:

     He was a good Proteſtant, but when he fell into the Jeſuits hands, they ſoon perverted him, and made him embrace the Roman Catholick Religion […]

   • 2004 April 15, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman‎^[1]:

     A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said: "We can confirm that a 15-year-old boy has been arrested and charged in connection with the murder of Jodi Jones. A 45-year-old has also been arrested in connection with allegations of attempting to pervert the course of justice. A report on this has been sent to the procurator fiscal."

3. To misapply, misuse, use for a nefarious purpose

   Synonyms: misapply, misuse

   He has perverted his talents to dishonest gain.

4. to misinterpret designedly.

   Synonym: twist

   pervert one's words

5. (intransitive) To become perverted; to take the wrong course.
   • c. 1384, Thomas Usk, The Testament of Love:

     After that worde, "better is it to dey than lyve false," and al wolde perverted people false reporte make

Translations

to turn another way

• Bulgarian: отклонявам (bg) (otklonjavam)
• Finnish: harhauttaa (fi)

to turn from truth

• Bulgarian: изопачавам (bg) (izopačavam)
• Finnish: johtaa harhaan
• Icelandic: spilla (is)
• Maori: whakapeau
• Ottoman Turkish: بوزمق (bozmak)
• Russian: извраща́ть (ru) impf (izvraščátʹ), изврати́ть (ru) pf (izvratítʹ)
• Swedish: förvanska (sv), förvränga (sv)

to misuse

• Bulgarian: използвам неправилно (izpolzvam nepravilno)
• Icelandic: misnota

to misinterpret designedly

• Finnish: vääristellä (fi)
• Icelandic: rangfæra, rangsnúa, afbaka (is)
• Russian: извраща́ть (ru) impf (izvraščátʹ), изврати́ть (ru) pf (izvratítʹ)
• Swedish: förvränga (sv), förvanska (sv)
• Ukrainian: спотво́рювати impf (spotvórjuvaty), спотво́рити pf (spotvóryty), перекру́чувати impf (perekrúčuvaty), перекрути́ти pf (perekrutýty), викривля́ти impf (vykryvljáty), ви́кривити pf (výkryvyty)

to take the wrong course

• Bulgarian: извращавам (bg) (izvraštavam)
• Finnish: harhautua (fi)
• Polish: zboczyć (pl)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Ido: ^{(please verify)} perversigar (io)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} pervertir (es)

Related terms

• perverse
• perversion

Anagrams

• prevert, vertrep

Icelandic

Etymology

From the Latin verb pervertere "to overturn" or "to subvert".

Noun

pervert f

1. a pervert

Synonyms

• perri m
• öfuguggi m