Perceive

How to spell perceive

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce perceive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does perceive mean?

1. verbTo become aware of something through the senses, or to interpret or regard it in a particular way.

Perceive in a sentence

• Older drivers often perceive distant hazards more slowly at night.

• Customers tend to perceive the higher price as a mark of quality.

Where does perceive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin percipere, meaning 'to seize wholly' or 'to grasp', formed from the intensifying prefix per-, meaning 'thoroughly', and capere, meaning 'to take'. The literal idea was of taking something in completely, which broadened naturally from physical seizing to the mental act of taking in information through the senses or the mind. English borrowed it in the early 1300s by way of Old French perceivre, where it carried both the sense of physical capture and of understanding. The same capere root sits inside a large family of relatives such as 'receive', 'deceive', and 'conceive', all of which share the tricky -ceive spelling. That family is exactly why the 'i before e except after c' guideline is worth remembering here: the c demands the ei order, so it is perceive, not perceive spelled with ie.

How the word is built

• per- (thoroughly, completely)
• ceive (from Latin capere: to take, grasp)