Peripheral

How to spell peripheral

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce peripheral

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does peripheral mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or situated on the outer edge of something, or of only minor importance.
2. nounA device, such as a printer or keyboard, connected to and controlled by a computer.

Peripheral in a sentence

• adjective

  The new policy had only a peripheral effect on our daily routine.

• noun

  The office ordered a new peripheral to scan documents at the front desk.

• adjective

  She noticed movement at the peripheral edge of her vision while driving.

• noun

  Every peripheral on his desk plugged into a single hub.

Where does peripheral come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek periphereia, meaning 'circumference' or 'the line running around something', which was built from peri 'around' and pherein 'to carry or bear', so the literal idea was of something carried around an edge. Late Latin took this in as peripheria, and from there the noun 'periphery' entered English in the 1500s for the outer boundary of an area or figure. The adjective 'peripheral' followed later, by the early 1800s, meaning 'situated at or relating to the outer edge', and from there it broadened to mean 'of minor importance', since what sits at the edge is rarely central. The same pherein root shows up in words such as 'metaphor' (something carried across) and 'paraphernalia', a useful reminder that the tricky middle 'pher' is spelled with 'ph', not 'f'. In the twentieth century the word gained a concrete noun sense in computing, naming any device attached around the outside of the central processor.

How the word is built

• peri- (around)
• pher- (from Greek pherein: to carry, bear)
• -al (adjective suffix)