perishable

IPA/ˈperɪʃəbl/
KK[pˈɛrɪʃəbəl]IPA/ˈperɪʃəbl/

perishable — adjective

  • perishablepositive
  • more perishablecomparative
  • most perishablesuperlative

1. describes food, flowers, medicine, and similar goods that do not stay good for l

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

describes food, flowers, medicine, and similar goods that do not stay good for long and need quick use or cool storage before they spoil.

Example

The supermarket moved the perishable food into coolers during the power cut.

perishable food in an emergency storage context

Fresh fish is perishable, so Lena packed it with ice for the drive home.

be + perishable with a storage precaution

Common collocations
  • perishable food
  • perishable goods
  • perishable items
  • perishable flowers
  • perishable medicine
  • highly perishable
Antonyms
  • nonperishable

    used for food and supplies that can be stored for a long time

  • shelf-stable

    used especially for packaged food that stays good without refrigeration

Grammar Patterns

perishable + noun

be + perishable

highly perishable

Usage Note

Usually modifies nouns such as food, flowers, or medicine. It can also follow be, especially in advice about storage, transport, or shelf life.

Common Mistakes

The glass cups are perishable, so wrap them carefully.
The glass cups are fragile, so wrap them carefully.
perishable is for things that spoil or decay, not things that break easily.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Perishable is about how long something can stay good, not about its condition right now. Food, flowers, or medicine are perishable when they need quick use, cool storage, or fast delivery. Fragile is different: glass can be fragile but not perishable, while milk can be perishable but not fragile. Stale and rotten describe a later stage, when the item has already lost quality. Bread can go stale, and fruit can turn rotten, but both may be perishable before that happens. Use perishable goods in shipping and store signs, fragile items on boxes, and stale bread or rotten meat when the damage is already there.

fragile ↗stale ↗rotten ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • perishable food
  • perishable goods
  • perishable items
  • perishable products

Adverbs

  • highly perishable

Phrases

  • keep perishable items refrigerated
  • ship perishable goods quickly

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Perishable is built from perish and the ending -able. Perish came into English through Anglo-French and Old French from Latin perire, meaning to die or be destroyed. The ending -able adds the idea of something being able to undergo that process, so perishable developed the sense of something that can spoil, decay, or be lost if it is not used or protected in time.

First known use

15th century

15th century, in the meaning defined above