perdu vs périt, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“perdu” is an adjective and “périt” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#634
“perdu” frequency rank: #40,446
“périt” frequency rank: 41080
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	perdu	périt
Definition	Dont on n’a plus la possession, la jouissance.	Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de périr.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set perdu and périt apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

perdu

5 ch

périt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perdu is \pɛʁ.dy\ while périt is \pe.ʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41080, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perdu is recorded at frequency rank #634, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ.dy\. périt is at rank #40,446, tagged as averb, pronounced \pe.ʁi\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 41080, this pair ranks #235,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perdu vs périt

Shared letters: pr. Private to "perdu": deu. Private to "périt": ité.

"perdu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "périt" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

perdu ← eprdu · pedru · perddu · perrdu · perud · pperdu · predu

Frequency comparison

perdu#634

périt#40,446

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "perdu" and "périt" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "perdu" is an adjective and "périt" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "perdu" or "périt"?

"perdu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #634 in our French list, against #40,446 for "périt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering perdu vs périt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “perdu”; for a verb, it's “périt”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “perdu” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable