perform
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
7 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "perform", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "perform" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "perform" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
perform is aEnglishverb. It means: To do (something); to execute. Pronounced /pəˈfɔːm/. It ranks #2,226 in English word frequency. Often confused with performed and performer.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | perform |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /pəˈfɔːm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #2,226 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for perform is 7 letters long, classified as averb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pəˈfɔːm/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,226 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for perform, with forms such as "eprform", "pefrorm", and "perfform". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "performed", "performer", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English parformen, performen (“to perform”), from Anglo-Norman performer, parfourmer, alteration of Old French parfornir, parfurnir (“to complete, accomplish, perform”), from par- + fornir, furnir (“to accomplish, furnish”), from Frankish *frumm… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is perform, spelled P-E-R-F-O-R-M, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1To do (something); to execute.
- 2To exhibit an expected pattern of behavior; to function; to work.
- 3To exhibit an expected pattern of behavior; to function; to work.
- 4To act in a way set forth in a contract.
- 5To act in a way set forth in a contract.
- 6To do (something) in front of an audience, such as acting or music, often in order to entertain.
- 7To behave theatrically so as to give the impression of (a quality, character trait, etc.); to feign.
- 8Of a social actor, to behave in certain ways.
- 9Of a social actor, to behave in certain ways.
Etymology
From Middle English parformen, performen (“to perform”), from Anglo-Norman performer, parfourmer, alteration of Old French parfornir, parfurnir (“to complete, accomplish, perform”), from par- + fornir, furnir (“to accomplish, furnish”), from Frankish *frummjan (“to accomplish, furnish”), from Proto-Germanic *frumjaną, *framjaną (“to further, promote”), from Proto-Indo-European *promo- (“in front, forth”), *per- (“forward, out”). Cognate with Old High German frummen (“to do, execute, accomplish, provide”), Old Saxon frummian (“to perform, promote”), Old English fremman (“to perform, execute, carry out, accomplish”). See also frame, from. Modernly, rather than Proto-Germanic *frumjaną, associated with Latin formō, analyzable as per- + form.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eprform,pefrorm,perfform,perfomr,performm,perforrm,perfrom,perofrm,perrform,pperform,preform
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for perform
Misspelling Variants of "perform"
Frequency rank: #2,226 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index: