Word of the Day

: June 6, 2014

perdure

verb per-DUR

What It Means

: to continue to exist : last

perdure in Context

The artist's influence perdures in the themes and stylistic choices of his students.

"Wells brings the reader into the drama of multi-generational families, of friendships that perdure ... of relationships that grow as hardships and challenges color life." - Fran Salone-Pelletier, The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, North Carolina), August 1, 2012

Did You Know?

"Perdure" may be an unfamiliar word for many of our readers, but those who suspect they see hints of its ancestry in the more familiar synonym "endure" are correct. "Perdure" was borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-French and traces back to the Latin verb "perdurare," meaning "to continue." "Perdurare," in turn, was formed by combining the intensifying prefix "per-" with the verb "durare," meaning "to last." "Durare" is also an ancestor of the English words "endure," "durable," "indurate," and "during," among others.