perfunctory

/pəˈfʌŋktəi/pur-FUHNGK-tur-ee
/pɚˈfʌŋktɚi/pur-FUHNGK-tur-ee

Meaningdone to get through

Common meaning: done without care

‘through’ + ‘to perform, carry out’ → perfunctory

Journey through time

  1. Latinfungor, fūnctus‘to perform, carry out’
  2. Englishperfunctory‘done without care’ · today

per- also in: percentperceptperfidyperfumeperjury

funct also in: functiondefunct

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin fungor ‘to perform, carry out’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry fungor, p. 794 · dictionary scan

Roots

Related words

defunctfunction

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