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• peri
  peri

  noun

  one of a large group of beautiful, fairylike beings of Persian mythology, represented as descended from fallen angels and excluded from paradise until their penance is accomplished.
• Peri
  Peri

  noun

  Jacopo 1561–1633, Italian composer.
• peri-
  peri-

  a prefix meaning “about” or “around” (perimeter, periscope ), “enclosing” or “surrounding” (pericardium ), and “near” (perigee, perihelion ), appearing in loanwords from Greek (peripeteia ); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (perimorph ).
• peri–
  peri–

  A prefix that means: “around” (as in pericardium,) or “near” (as in perihelion).

peri

¹ American  

[peer-ee] / ˈpɪər i /

noun

Persian Mythology.

peris plural

1. one of a large group of beautiful, fairylike beings of Persian mythology, represented as descended from fallen angels and excluded from paradise until their penance is accomplished.

2. any lovely, graceful person.

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Peri ² American  

[pe-ree] / ˈpɛ ri /

noun

1. Jacopo 1561–1633, Italian composer.

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peri- ³ American  

1. a prefix meaning “about” or “around” (perimeter, periscope ), “enclosing” or “surrounding” (pericardium ), and “near” (perigee, perihelion ), appearing in loanwords from Greek (peripeteia ); on this model, used in the formation of compound words (perimorph ).

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peri- ¹ British  

prefix

1. enclosing, encircling, or around

   pericardium

   pericarp

   perigon

2. near or adjacent

   perihelion

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peri ² British  

/ ˈpɪərɪ /

noun

1. (in Persian folklore) one of a race of beautiful supernatural beings

2. any beautiful fairy-like creature

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peri– Scientific  

1. A prefix that means: “around” (as in pericardium,) or “near” (as in perihelion).

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• peris
  plural

Etymology

Origin of peri¹

1770–80; < Persian perī, variant of parī fairy, Middle Persian parīk, Avestan pairikā witch

Origin of peri-³

< Greek, prefixal use of perí (adv. and preposition)

Example Sentences

“Entertainment collaborations are one way to break through all the noise,” said Peri Edelstein, who leads Boston Consulting Group’s North America consumer practice.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026

Still, “refugees are one of the cleanest and clearest immigrant economic success stories,” said Giovanni Peri, a professor of economics at the University of California, Davis.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 10, 2025

“We’ll lose almost a million working-age Americans every year in the next decade just because of aging,” Peri told me.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 13, 2025

In her interview, Ms Peri did not explicitly explain what she meant by "political priorities".

From BBC • Aug. 21, 2024

In 1597, their first semi-collaborative attempt at this new form, which they called ‘drama through music’, was a piece called Dafhe, with music by one of their number, Jacopo Peri.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall