Word.ws English Dictionary

perm

/pɜːm/US/pɝm/

perm is the clipping of permanent wave.

Noun (1)

perm (plural perms)

  1. (informal) A permutation.
  2. A combination of outcomes (not a permutation) that a gambler bets on in the football pools.

Meaning of permanent wave

Noun

permanent wave (plural permanent waves)

  1. (UK) A series of waves in the hair produced by means of chemical substances and heat; a perm
  2. A wave in a moving fluid that does not change shape or position relative to the fluid

Verb

perm (third-person singular simple present perms, present participle perming, simple past and past participle permed)

  1. To give hair a perm, using heat, chemicals etc.

Noun (2)

perm (plural perms)

  1. Permission

Proper noun capitalized: Perm

Perm

  1. A historical region of northeastern Russia, corresponding to the Kama basin, a left tributary of the Volga.
  2. A krai of Russia, near the Ural Mountains.
  3. A city, the administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia.

Synonyms of perm

Forms of perm

Noun
pluralperms
Verb
third-person singular presentperms
present participleperming
past participlepermed
pastpermed

Origin of perm

Short for permanent.

Short for permutation.

Short for permission.

Words formed from perm

Phrases with perm

Words that rhyme with perm

9 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about perm

What does perm mean?
Perm means to give hair a perm, using heat, chemicals etc.
What is perm the clipping of?
Perm is the clipping of permanent wave.
What part of speech is perm?
Perm can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce perm?
Perm is pronounced /pɝm/ (US).
What is the past tense of perm?
The past tense of perm is permed.

Words near perm in the dictionary

  1. perlustrations
  2. perlustrator
  3. perlustrators
  4. perlustrin
  5. perlèche
  6. perm
  7. Perm Krai
  8. Perm'
  9. perm.
  10. perma
  11. perma-

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: perm (page history and authors); Perm (page history and authors); permanent wave (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-perm.wav.

Cite this entry: “perm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/perm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.