perennial

Definitions

per- (through) + enn (the -enn- form of annus, year) + -ial = 'lasting through the years.' A perennial plant lives on year after year instead of dying each winter. The figurative sense follows directly: a perennial problem or a perennial favorite is something that keeps coming back every year and never disappears.

Why It Means This

The vivid core is the garden: a perennial plant survives the winter and sprouts again the next year, while an annual dies after one season. English borrowed that botanical image for everything that stubbornly recurs — a perennial debate, perennial complaints, a perennial underdog. Whatever keeps coming back, year after year, is perennial.

Common Collocations

• 1.perennial problem长期问题
• 2.perennial favorite常年的最爱
• 3.perennial plant多年生植物
• 4.perennial question老生常谈的问题
• 5.hardy perennial耐寒多年生植物

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Traffic congestion is a perennial problem in big cities.

• 2.

  Lavender is a hardy perennial that returns every spring.

• 3.

  She is a perennial favorite among the students.

• 4.

  The town faces the perennial challenge of flooding.

Easily Confused

perennial vs perpetual — both mean 'lasting,' but perennial stresses recurrence (it comes back each year: a perennial problem), while perpetual stresses non-stop continuity (it never pauses: perpetual motion, perpetual noise). Keeps returning → perennial; never stops → perpetual.