perse
/pɜːs/
"perse" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“perse” is an uncommon English word, ranked #71,787 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #71,787
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A very dark (almost black) purple or blue-gray colour.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | perse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pɜːs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #71,787 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “perse” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for perse is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /pɜːs/. Corpus data places it at rank #71,787 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for perse in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pers, from Old French, from Medieval Latin persus, back-formed from Persicus (“Persian”), from Ancient Greek Περσικός (Persikós). Compare peach. The correct English form is perse, spelled P-E-R-S-E.
Definition
- 1A very dark (almost black) purple or blue-gray colour.
- 2A cloth of this colour.
Etymology
From Middle English pers, from Old French, from Medieval Latin persus, back-formed from Persicus (“Persian”), from Ancient Greek Περσικός (Persikós). Compare peach.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “perse”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-E-R-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pɜːs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.