English
perennial
Perennial comes from Latin perennis ‘lasting through the whole year or for several…’, and goes back to annus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEannus‘year’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEperennis‘lasting through the whole year or for several years, perennial’
- Englishearliest quotation 1644perennial
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEannus‘year’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEperennis‘lasting through the whole year or for several years, perennial’
- Englishearliest quotation 1644perennial
Earliest quotation: 1644, [Diary entry for 27 February 1644]: “[W]hat is most admirable is the vast enclosure, and…”
Equivalent to per- + -ennial
The story
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’)).
Linked words
through Latin annus ‘year’
annual, ann, millennium, annuity, annum, millennial, biennial, biennale, 11 more
Today it means
adj Lasting or remaining active throughout the year, for multiple years, or all the time.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin annus / perennial