Where does “perish” come from?
Perish comes from Old French periss-, a stem of the verb meaning to destroy or be destroyed.
perish (English): To decay and disappear; to waste away to nothing;...
Definitions
- To decay and disappear; to waste away to nothing;...
Ancestry of “perish”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | perishen | — |
| 2 | Old French | perir | to die; to perish |
| 3 | Latin | pereō | to perish, pass away, die, be ruined |
| 4 | Latin | eō | to go, to fare, to move (oneself) (any kind of animate or inanimate motion: walk, ride, sail, fly, etc.) |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | eō | I go |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | ejō | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁éyti | to go, to be going |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁ey- | to go |