perish
per·ish/ˈpɛɹɪʃ/verb
perish is spelled P-E-R-I-S-H: 6 letters and 2 syllables (per·ish). It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “parish vs perish” about 110 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, perish means “To decay and disappear; to waste away to nothing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in perish?
| Letters | 6: P-E-R-I-S-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: per·ish |
| In writing | 2.1 times per million words; the 19,077th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is perish?
Perish appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 19,077th 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 perish?
- US /ˈpɛɹɪʃ/
- Australia /ˈpeɹɪʃ/
- /ˈpeɹəʃ/
Perish has 2 syllables, split per·ish in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-perish.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with perish
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with perish?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as perish from its last stressed vowel (/ɛɹɪʃ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: reship.
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 perish
- perishes present, singular, he/she/it
- perishing participle, present
- perished participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does perish mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To decay and disappear; to waste away to nothing.
- 2
To decay in such a way that it cannot be used for its original purpose
- 3
To die; to cease to live.
- 4
obsoleteTo cause to perish.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Perish in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | périr |
| German | verderben, schlecht werden , umkommen, ums Leben kommen, verenden |
| Portuguese | perecer |
| Spanish | perecer , fenecer |
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 perish come from?
From Middle English perishen, borrowed from Old French perir (via the stem periss- used in various conjugations), from Latin perīre (“pass away, perish”), from per (“through”) + īre (“pass, go”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).