"perspire" meaning in English

See perspire in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /pəˈspaɪə(ɹ)/ [Received-Pronunciation], /pɚˈspaɪɹ/ [Canada, General-American], /pɚˈspaɪɚ/ [Canada, General-American], /pəˈspɑɪə(ɹ)/ [Australia] Audio: en-us-perspire.ogg [California] Forms: perspires [present, singular, third-person], perspiring [participle, present], perspired [participle, past], perspired [past]
Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ) Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French perspirer and its source Latin perspīrō (“to breathe everywhere, blow constantly”), from per (“through”) + spīrō (“to breathe”); see spirit. Etymology templates: {{bor|en|frm|perspirer}} Middle French perspirer, {{bor|en|la|perspīrō||to breathe everywhere, blow constantly}} Latin perspīrō (“to breathe everywhere, blow constantly”) Head templates: {{en-verb}} perspire (third-person singular simple present perspires, present participle perspiring, simple past and past participle perspired)
  1. (ambitransitive) To emit (sweat or perspiration) through the skin's pores. Tags: ambitransitive Synonyms: sweat
    Sense id: en-perspire-en-verb-CayJytU9
  2. (intransitive) To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin. Tags: intransitive
    Sense id: en-perspire-en-verb--qxVsdym Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Bodily fluids Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 29 64 8 Disambiguation of Bodily fluids: 16 60 25
  3. (ambitransitive, rare) To cause (someone) to sweat. Tags: ambitransitive, rare Synonyms: sweat
    Sense id: en-perspire-en-verb-6A566Trm
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: perspirability, perspirable, perspiry Related terms: conspire, inspire, perspiration, respire, transpire

Inflected forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "perspirability"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "perspirable"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "perspiry"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "perspirer",
      "perspirer#Middle_French"
    ],
    [
      "perspīrō",
      "perspiro#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "per",
      "per#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "spīrō",
      "spiro#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "spirit",
      "spirit#English"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "frm",
        "3": "perspirer"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle French perspirer",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "perspīrō",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to breathe everywhere, blow constantly"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin perspīrō (“to breathe everywhere, blow constantly”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Middle French perspirer and its source Latin perspīrō (“to breathe everywhere, blow constantly”), from per (“through”) + spīrō (“to breathe”); see spirit.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "perspires",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "perspiring",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "perspired",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "perspired",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "perspire (third-person singular simple present perspires, present participle perspiring, simple past and past participle perspired)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "conspire"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "inspire"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "perspiration"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "respire"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "transpire"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              6,
              16
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I was perspiring freely after running the marathon.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              56,
              65
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, Susan C. Karant-Nunn, The Reformation of Feeling:",
          "text": "He lists forty reasons, mainly metaphorical, why Christ perspired blood, and his peroration takes twenty-two pages in print.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To emit (sweat or perspiration) through the skin's pores."
      ],
      "id": "en-perspire-en-verb-CayJytU9",
      "links": [
        [
          "emit",
          "emit"
        ],
        [
          "sweat",
          "sweat"
        ],
        [
          "perspiration",
          "perspiration"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(ambitransitive) To emit (sweat or perspiration) through the skin's pores."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "sweat"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "ambitransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "29 64 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "16 60 25",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Bodily fluids",
          "orig": "en:Bodily fluids",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              8,
              17
            ]
          ],
          "text": "A fluid perspires.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin."
      ],
      "id": "en-perspire-en-verb--qxVsdym",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              97,
              106
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 3:",
          "text": "Outside his window a long, humid summer, the first hot season of the third millennium, baked and perspired.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              118,
              127
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2016, Pradip Chauhan, Love Stories, New Delhi: Educreation Publishing, →ISBN, page 48:",
          "text": "We shook hands, he looked surprised to see me topless. I stimulated his mind. ¶ “Nice to meet you. My workout jogging perspired me a lot, so I removed the T-shirt.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To cause (someone) to sweat."
      ],
      "id": "en-perspire-en-verb-6A566Trm",
      "links": [
        [
          "cause",
          "cause"
        ],
        [
          "sweat",
          "sweat"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(ambitransitive, rare) To cause (someone) to sweat."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "sweat"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "ambitransitive",
        "rare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/pəˈspaɪə(ɹ)/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/pɚˈspaɪɹ/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/pɚˈspaɪɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-perspire.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/56/En-us-perspire.ogg/En-us-perspire.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/En-us-perspire.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "California"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/pəˈspɑɪə(ɹ)/",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪə(ɹ)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "perspire"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms borrowed from Latin",
    "English terms borrowed from Middle French",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Middle French",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 2 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/aɪə(ɹ)",
    "Rhymes:English/aɪə(ɹ)/2 syllables",
    "en:Bodily fluids"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "perspirability"
    },
    {
      "word": "perspirable"
    },
    {
      "word": "perspiry"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_links": [
    [
      "perspirer",
      "perspirer#Middle_French"
    ],
    [
      "perspīrō",
      "perspiro#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "per",
      "per#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "spīrō",
      "spiro#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "spirit",
      "spirit#English"
    ]
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "frm",
        "3": "perspirer"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle French perspirer",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "perspīrō",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to breathe everywhere, blow constantly"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin perspīrō (“to breathe everywhere, blow constantly”)",
      "name": "bor"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Middle French perspirer and its source Latin perspīrō (“to breathe everywhere, blow constantly”), from per (“through”) + spīrō (“to breathe”); see spirit.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "perspires",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "perspiring",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "perspired",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "perspired",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "perspire (third-person singular simple present perspires, present participle perspiring, simple past and past participle perspired)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "conspire"
    },
    {
      "word": "inspire"
    },
    {
      "word": "perspiration"
    },
    {
      "word": "respire"
    },
    {
      "word": "transpire"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              6,
              16
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I was perspiring freely after running the marathon.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              56,
              65
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, Susan C. Karant-Nunn, The Reformation of Feeling:",
          "text": "He lists forty reasons, mainly metaphorical, why Christ perspired blood, and his peroration takes twenty-two pages in print.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To emit (sweat or perspiration) through the skin's pores."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "emit",
          "emit"
        ],
        [
          "sweat",
          "sweat"
        ],
        [
          "perspiration",
          "perspiration"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(ambitransitive) To emit (sweat or perspiration) through the skin's pores."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "sweat"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "ambitransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              8,
              17
            ]
          ],
          "text": "A fluid perspires.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive) To be evacuated or excreted, or to exude, through the pores of the skin."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with rare senses",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              97,
              106
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 3:",
          "text": "Outside his window a long, humid summer, the first hot season of the third millennium, baked and perspired.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              118,
              127
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2016, Pradip Chauhan, Love Stories, New Delhi: Educreation Publishing, →ISBN, page 48:",
          "text": "We shook hands, he looked surprised to see me topless. I stimulated his mind. ¶ “Nice to meet you. My workout jogging perspired me a lot, so I removed the T-shirt.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To cause (someone) to sweat."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "cause",
          "cause"
        ],
        [
          "sweat",
          "sweat"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(ambitransitive, rare) To cause (someone) to sweat."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "sweat"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "ambitransitive",
        "rare"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/pəˈspaɪə(ɹ)/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/pɚˈspaɪɹ/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/pɚˈspaɪɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-perspire.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/56/En-us-perspire.ogg/En-us-perspire.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/En-us-perspire.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "California"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/pəˈspɑɪə(ɹ)/",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪə(ɹ)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "perspire"
}

Download raw JSONL data for perspire meaning in English (4.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-10-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.