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PlainSpell

per

/pɝ/preposition, pronoun, determiner

per is spelled P-E-R: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 282 times per million words in written English, the 338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a preposition, per means “For each” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in per?

Letters3: P-E-R
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing282 times per million words; the 338th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is per?

Per appears 282 times per million words in written English, the 338th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce per?

  • UK /pɜː/
  • US /pɝ/
  • /pɛr/

Per has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-purr.wav, En-us-per.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-per-.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with per

Sounds like: purr (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with per?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as per from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: pre, rep.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of per

  • pers
  • perself

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does per mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

preposition

  1. 1

    For each.

    Admission is £10 per person.

  2. 2

    To each, in each (used in expressing ratios of units).

    12 inches per foot

  3. 3

    By the, through the (with name of body part in Latin).

    Introduce the endoscope per nasum.

  4. 4

    In accordance with, as per.

    I parked my car at the curb per your request.

  5. 5

    According to.

    Bucks trading for Patrick Beverley, per sources

noun

as PER
  1. 1

    Initialism of protein efficiency ratio.

  2. 2

    Initialism of price-earnings ratio.

pronoun

  1. 1

    nonstandardrareThey (singular). Gender-neutral neologistic third-person singular subject pronoun, coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she.

  2. 2

    nonstandardrareThem (singular) Neologistic gender-neutral third-person singular object pronoun, suggested for use in place of him and her.

determiner

  1. 1

    nonstandardrareBelonging to per; their (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular possessive adjective, coordinate with gendered his and her.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate per?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of per: p.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Per in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpar (for each), à, au (used in expressing ratios of units), par voie (via)
Germanje (for each), pro (used in expressing ratios of units), durch (via), gemäß (in accordance with)
Portuguesepor (for each)
Spanishpor (for each), según (in accordance with)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does per come from?

From Latin per (“through, during”), from Proto-Indo-European *per. Doublet of par.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after per