perish

English

Etymology

From Middle English perishen, borrowed from Old French periss-, stem of certain parts of perir, from Latin perīre (“to pass away, perish”), present active infinitive of pereō, from per (“through”) + eō (“to go”); see iter.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈpɛɹɪʃ/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛɹɪʃ
Homophone: parish (some accents)
Hyphenation: per‧ish

Verb

perish (third-person singular simple present perishes, present participle perishing, simple past and past participle perished)

(intransitive) To decay and disappear; to waste away to nothing.
- 1881, Tarafa, translated by W. A. Clouston, The Poem of Tarafa
  I consider time as a treasure decreasing every night; and that which every day diminishes soon perishes for ever.
(intransitive) To decay in such a way that it cannot be used for its original purpose
- 2015, Christopher Cumo, Foods that Changed History
  The difficulty is that fresh foods perish due to the multiplication in them of harmful bacteria.
(intransitive) To die; to cease to live.
Synonyms: decease, pass away; see also Thesaurus:die
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Proverbs 11:10:
  When it goeth well with the righteous, the citie reioyceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
- 1719 April 25, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, OCLC 838630407:
  […] the ship struck upon a sand, and […] the sea broke over her in such a manner that we expected we should all have perished immediately; and we were immediately driven into our close quarters, to shelter us from the very foam and spray of the sea.
(transitive, obsolete) To cause to perish.
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Friendship”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, OCLC 863521290:
  that closeness did impair and a little perish his understanding
- 1898, William Pett Ridge, By Order of the Magistrate, page 209:
  "Leggo my shou'der, I tell you! Leggo!" He struggled with her, and the customers came forward. "Chrise! I'll perish you, if you ain't careful!" He turned suddenly,...

Derived terms

perish the thought

Related terms

perishable

Translations

to decay and disappear; to waste away to nothing

Aromanian: cher
Catalan: perir (ca)
Dutch: vergaan (nl), bederven (nl)
Esperanto: perei
Finnish: näivettyä (fi), kadota (fi)
French: périr (fr)
Friulian: perî
Galician: perecer (gl)
Georgian: დაღუპვა (daɣuṗva)
German: verderben (de), schlecht werden (food)
Greek:
Ancient: φθείρομαι (phtheíromai)
Indonesian: binasa (id), musnah (id)
Irish:
Old Irish: ara·chrin
Italian: perire (it)
Korean: 죽다 (ko) (jukda), 비명횡사하다 (bimyeonghoengsahada)
Latgalian: gaist
Latin: pereō, perbitō, abolesco
Latvian: zust
Lithuanian: žūti
Malay: musnah
Maori: tipoko
Old Saxon: āgangan
Portuguese: perecer (pt)
Quechua: wañuy
Romanian: pieri (ro)
Russian: пропада́ть (ru) impf (propadátʹ), пропа́сть (ru) pf (propástʹ), по́ртиться (ru) impf (pórtitʹsja), испо́ртиться (ru) pf (ispórtitʹsja)
Sanskrit: नश्यति (sa) (naśyati)
Spanish: perecer (es)

to decay in such a way that it cannot be used for its original purpose

Finnish: pilaantua (fi)

to die, to pass away — See also translations at die

Azerbaijani: həlak olmaq
Belarusian: гі́нуць impf (hínucʹ), згі́нуць pf (zhínucʹ)
Bulgarian: заги́вам (bg) impf (zagívam), заги́на pf (zagína)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 死亡 (zh) (sǐwáng), 死 (zh) (sǐ), 殞／殒 (zh) (yǔn)
Czech: hynout (cs) impf, zahynout (cs) pf, zhynout pf
Danish: omkomme (da)
Dutch: omkomen (nl), sterven (nl), vergaan (nl)
Esperanto: perei
Finnish: menehtyä (fi)
French: périr (fr)
Galician: perecer (gl)
German: umkommen (de), ums Leben kommen (de), verenden (de)(animals), verderben (de) (archaic)
Greek:
Ancient: φθείρομαι (phtheíromai)
Irish:
Old Irish: ara·chrin
Japanese: 死ぬ (ja) (しぬ, shinu), 亡びる (ja) (ほろびる, horobiru), 滅びる (ja) (ほろびる, horobiru), 滅亡する (ja) (めつぼうする, metsubō suru)
Korean: 죽다 (ko) (jukda), 멸망하다 (ko) (myeolmanghada)
Latin: pereō, aboriscor
Macedonian: гине impf (gine), загине pf (zagine)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: үхэх (mn) (üxex)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: omkomme (no)
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: гꙑбнѫти impf (gybnǫti), погꙑбнѫти pf (pogybnǫti)
Old East Slavic: гꙑнꙋти impf (gynuti), гꙑбнꙋти impf (gybnuti)
Plautdietsch: omkomen
Polish: ginąć (pl) impf, zginąć (pl) pf
Russian: ги́бнуть (ru) impf (gíbnutʹ), погиба́ть (ru) impf (pogibátʹ), поги́бнуть (ru) pf (pogíbnutʹ)
Sanskrit: नश्यति (sa) (naśyati), म्रियते (sa) (mriyáte), मरति (marati)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: поги́бати impf, по̀гинути pf
Roman: pogíbati (sh) impf, pòginuti (sh) pf
Slovak: hynúť impf, zahynúť pf, zhynúť pf (literary)
Slovene: poginjati impf, poginiti pf
Spanish: perecer (es)
Swahili: kuangamia
Swedish: omkomma (sv)
Tocharian B: naut-
Ukrainian: ги́нути impf (hýnuty) (perish), зги́нути pf (zhýnuty), заги́нути pf (zahýnuty), погиба́ти impf (pohybáty), поги́бнути pf (pohýbnuty), поги́нути pf (pohýnuty)

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

Catalan: perir (ca)
Cornish: merwel
Czech: zaniknout (cs), zahynout (cs)
Dutch: wegkwijnen (nl)
French: périr (fr)
Hebrew: אבד‎ (he) (avád)
Italian: perire (it)
Japanese: 亡びる (ja) (ほろびる, horobiru), 滅びる (ja) (ほろびる, horobiru), 死ぬ (ja) (しぬ, shinu)
Korean: 멸망하다 (ko) (myeolmanghada)
Old English: forweorþan
Romanian: pieri (ro)
Russian: погиба́ть (ru) impf (pogibátʹ), пасть (ru) pf (pastʹ), умира́ть (ru) impf (umirátʹ), умере́ть (ru) pf (umerétʹ), сги́нуть (ru) pf (sgínutʹ)
Vietnamese: diệt vong (vi)
Welsh: aballu (cy)

Anagrams

hipers, pisher, reship, seriph