perturb
per·turb/pəɹˈtɜɹb/verb
perturb is spelled P-E-R-T-U-R-B: 7 letters and 2 syllables (per·turb). It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 106,501st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, perturb means “To cause (something) to be physically disordered or disturbed; to cause confusion” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in perturb?
| Letters | 7: P-E-R-T-U-R-B |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: per·turb |
| In writing | about once in every 13 million words; the 106,501st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is perturb?
Perturb appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 106,501st 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 perturb?
- UK /pəˈtɜːb/
- US /pəɹˈtɜɹb/
Perturb has 2 syllables, split per·turb in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-perturb.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with perturb?
8 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as perturb from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹb/):
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 perturb
- perturbs present, singular, he/she/it
- perturbing participle, present
- perturbed participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does perturb mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To cause (something) to be physically disordered or disturbed; to cause confusion.
- 2
To disturb (someone, their mind, etc.) mentally; to bother, trouble, upset.
- 3
Of a celestial body: to modify the motion or orbit of (another celestial body) by exerting a gravitational force; hence (physics), to slightly modify (the motion of an object).
- 4
To slightly modify (a set of equations or their solutions), producing deviations from a simple, easily solvable problem, in order to find an approximate solution to a problem that is more difficult to solve or otherwise unsolvable.
- 5
To influence (a process or system) so that it deviates from its normal state.
- 6
To bother, to disturb, to trouble.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Perturb in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense (transitive) to cause (something) to be physically disordered or disturbed:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | perturbar, conturbar, desatentar |
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.