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Origin and history of perishable

perishable(adj.)

late 15c., perysabyl, periscable, "subject to decay or destruction," from Old French périssable, and later (in modern form), 1610s, directly from perish + -able. As a noun, perishables, in reference to foodstuffs, is attested from 1895.

Entries linking to perishable

late 13c., perishen, "to die, be killed, pass away; suffer spiritual death, be damned," from periss- present participle stem of Old French perir "perish, be lost, be shipwrecked" (12c.), from Latin perire "to be lost, perish," literally "to go through," from per "through, completely, to destruction" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "through") + ire "to go" (from PIE root *ei- "to go").

From mid-14c. of physical objects, "decay, come to destruction." In Middle English also transitive, "to destroy, to kill" (c. 1300). Related: Perished; perishing. Perisher is by 1888 as a term of contempt, originally "one who destroys," but it was sometimes used with an overtone of pity, as if "one likely to perish."

"not subject to destruction or decay," 1640s, from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + perishable. Related: Imperishably

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