perse
/pɚs/noun, adjective
perse is spelled P-E-R-S-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 71,529th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Perse, the name). People search “per se vs perse” about 10 times a month (Bing, United States). As a noun, perse means “A very dark (almost black) purple or blue-gray colour” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of perse is perses.
How many letters and syllables are in perse?
| Letters | 5: P-E-R-S-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words; the 71,529th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); 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 perse?
Perse appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 71,529th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Perse, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce perse?
- UK /pɜːs/
- British /pəːs/
- US /pɚs/
Perse 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: En-us-purse.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with perse
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: purse (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: per se (one word or two), pierce.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with perse?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as perse from its last stressed vowel (/əɹs/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: spree, speer, esper.
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 perse
- perses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does perse mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A very dark (almost black) purple or blue-gray colour.
- 2
A cloth of this colour.
adjective
- 1
Very dark greyish (almost blackish) purple or blue.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does perse come from?
From Middle English pers, from Old French, from Medieval Latin persus, back-formed from Persicus (“Persian”), from Ancient Greek Περσικός (Persikós). Compare peach.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).