permanent
per·ma·nent/ˈpɝ.mə.nənt/adjective, noun, verb
permanent is spelled P-E-R-M-A-N-E-N-T, 3 syllables: per·ma·nent. The wrong spelling people search most is permenant: about 590 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 17 of all searches for the word. Permanent is an adjective meaning “Without end, eternal”.
How many letters and syllables are in permanent?
| Letters | 9: P-E-R-M-A-N-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: per·ma·nent |
| In writing | 37 times per million words; the 2,618th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, permenant, about 590 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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).
How do you spell permanent?
Permanent is spelled P-E-R-M-A-N-E-N-T. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 11 of the searches for permanent in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is permanent?
Permanent appears 37 times per million words in written English, the 2,618th 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 permanent?
- UK /ˈpɜː.mə.nənt/
- US /ˈpɝ.mə.nənt/
Permanent has 3 syllables, split per·ma·nent in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-permanent.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of permanent
- more permanent comparative
- most permanent superlative
- permanents plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- permanenting participle, present
- permanented participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does permanent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Without end, eternal.
Nothing in this world is truly permanent.
- 2
Lasting for an indefinitely long time.
The countries are now locked in a permanent state of conflict.
noun
- 1
A chemical hair treatment imparting or removing curliness, whose effects typically last for a period of weeks; a perm.
- 2
Given an n×n matrix a_ij,, the sum over all permutations π, of ∏ᵢ₌₁ⁿa_iπ(i).
- 3
A card whose effects persist beyond the turn on which it is played.
verb
- 1
datedTo perm (the hair).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate permanent?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of permanent: perm..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Permanent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | permanent , permanente |
| German | permanent, ständig, beständig, unbefristet, dauerhaft , Dauerwelle |
| Portuguese | permanente |
| Spanish | permanente |
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 permanent come from?
From Middle English permanent, permanente, from Middle French permanent, from Latin permanēns, from permaneō (“to stay through”). First attested in the 15th century.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).