perpetually

/pəˈpetʃuːəli/pur-PEH-choo-uh-lee

/pɚˈpɛtʃuəli/pur-PEH-choo-uh-lee

Meaningin a never-ending way

Common meaning: always

perthroughoutSkeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), p. 436 · scan
petto aim at, seekLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1364 · scan
ualadjective ending: having to do with
lyadverb ending: in a way

‘throughout’ + ‘to aim at, seek’ → perpetually

Journey through time

Latinper- + pet-‘throughout + to aim at, seek’source
Latinperpetualis‘uni- versal’source
Frenchperpetuelsource
Middle Englishperpetuelsource
Englishperpetual‘never ending’
Englishformed in English from perpetualperpetually‘always’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from perpetual + -ly.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), PERPETUAL, p.436 · scan

Roots

perpetualis Latin “universal”
petō, petīvī, petītum Latin “to aim at, seek”

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app