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How to spell perceive

Perceive is spelled P-E-R-C-E-I-V-E.

hear itper·ceive/pər'siv/verbHidden vowels

What it means: To become aware of something through the senses.

In a sentence: I can perceive the sweet smell of flowers in the garden.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear, and the order of ei.

Same family: perception, perceptive, perceived, misperceive, perceiver. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Perceive comes from Latin *percipere*, meaning 'to seize entirely' or 'to grasp thoroughly.' Over time, English shifted the idea of 'grasping' from the hands to the mind, so now to perceive is to 'grasp with the senses or understanding.'

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