perennial
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perennial
- /pəˈɹɛn.ɪ.əl/ UK
- /pəˈɹɛn.j(ə)l/ US
- /pəˈɹɛn.i.əl/ US
Where it comes from
The adjective is borrowed from Latin perennis (“lasting through the whole year or for several years, perennial; continual, everlasting, perpetual”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Perennis is derived from per- (“completive or intensifying prefix with the sense of doing something all the way through or entirely”) + annus (“year; season, time”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂et- (“to go”)). By surface analysis, per- + -ennial.
The noun is derived from the adjective.
Cognates
* Middle French pérenne (modern French pérenne (“lasting through the whole year, perennial”))
* Italian perenne (“lasting for a long time”)
* Spanish perenne (“eternal; permanent; a perennial plant”)
adjective
- Lasting or remaining active throughout the year, for multiple years, or all the time. a perennial stream
- Continuing without cessation or intermission for several years, or for an undetermined or infinite period; never-ending or never failing; perpetual, unceasing. His artwork has a perennial beauty.
- Appearing or recurring again and again; recurrent. a perennial candidate in elections
- Appearing again each year; annual.
- Of a plant: active throughout the year, or having a life cycle of more than two growing seasons.
noun perennials
- A plant that is active throughout the year, or has a life cycle of more than two growing seasons. One would have supposed from the appearance of the country at the end of the first season after the eruption that practically all plants except the trees and bushes had been destroyed, and that revegetation must be due to new seedlings started on the ash. Such, however, is not the case. Excavation o
- A thing that lasts forever.
- A person or thing (such as a problem) that appears or returns regularly. Some of the stars on our list are perennials who fill huge venues year after year after year, but there's also a returning superstar on our list of the hottest summer tours of 2019.
