perennial
Meanings
Plural: perennials
Noun
- (botany) a plant lasting for three seasons or more
- A plant that is active throughout the year, or has a life cycle of more than two growing seasons.
- A thing that lasts forever.
- A person or thing (such as a problem) that appears or returns regularly.
Adjective
- lasting three seasons or more
- "the common buttercup is a popular perennial plant"
Adjective Satellite
- lasting an indefinitely long time; suggesting self-renewal
- "perennial happiness"
- recurring again and again
- "perennial efforts to stipulate the requirements"
Adj
- Lasting or remaining active throughout the year, for multiple years, or all the time.
- Continuing without cessation or intermission for several years, or for an undetermined or infinite period; neverending or never failing; perpetual, unceasing.
- Appearing or recurring again and again; recurrent.
- Appearing or recurring again and again; recurrent.
- Appearing again each year; annual.
- Of a plant: active throughout the year, or having a life cycle of more than two growing seasons.
Origin / Etymology
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”)
Synonyms
ageful, agelong, amaranthine, continual, endless, enduring, eternal, eterne, everduring, evergreen, everlasting, eviternal, forever, imperishable, indesinent, lasting, monotonous, multiyear, neverending, perennal, perennial, permanent, perpetual, perpetuate, persistent, recurrent, recurring, repeated, repeating, repetitional, repetitionary, repetitious, repetitive, sempiternal, timeless, undeadly, undying, unending, yearslong
Scrabble Score: 11
perennial is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordperennial is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
perennial is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary