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PlainSpell

peruse

/pəˈɹuːz/verb, noun

peruse is spelled P-E-R-U-S-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 40,267th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, peruse means “To examine or consider with care” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in peruse?

Letters6: P-E-R-U-S-E
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 40,267th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is peruse?

Peruse appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 40,267th 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 peruse?

  • US /pəˈɹuːz/

Peruse has 2 syllables (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-peruse.ogg, En-au-peruse.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with peruse?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as peruse from its last stressed vowel (/uz/):

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 peruse

  • peruses present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • perusing participle, present
  • perused participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does peruse mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To examine or consider with care.

  2. 2

    To read completely.

  3. 3

    informalTo look over casually; to skim.

  4. 4

    To go from place to place; to wander.

noun

  1. 1

    An examination or perusal; an instance of perusing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Peruse in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchexaminer (to examine or consider with care), jeter un coup d'œil, survoler, feuilleter (look over casually), examen (perusal)
Germanstudieren, genau unter die Lupe nehmen (to examine or consider with care), überfliegen (look over casually), durchlesen (to read completely)
Portugueseexaminar (to examine or consider with care), ler todo (to read completely)
Spanishexaminar, mirar con detenimiento, bichar, revisar (to examine or consider with care), ojear (look over casually), leer detenidamente (to read completely)

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 peruse come from?

From either Medieval Latin perūtor, perūsitō (“wear out”) or Anglo-Norman peruser (“use up”), originally leading to two concurrent meanings, but only those derived from "to examine" survive today. By surface analysis, per- + use.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after peruse