The correct spelling is per se, two words, from the Latin for “by itself” or “in itself.” It is pronounced pur-SAY, which is why it so often turns up as per say. Use it to separate a thing from what comes with it: “The problem isn't the price per se; it's the hidden fees.” Put “in itself” in its place and the sentence still works. The memory trick: per se means by itself, and the se sits right in the middle of itself.
Try the same swap on “We're not behind schedule per se” and “in itself” makes no sense. The sentence is better without either: “We're not behind schedule.” Most of the trouble with per se comes from using it as a stand-in for “exactly” or “really.”
Per se at a glance
| Per se | |
|---|---|
| Spelling | Per seper se: two words, no hyphen, no apostrophe |
| Meaning | Per seby itself, in itself, as such, intrinsically |
| Pronunciation | Per sepur-SAY: /ˌpɜːr ˈseɪ/ (US), /ˌpɜː ˈseɪ/ (UK) |
| Part of speech | Per seUsually an adverb; also an adjective in front of a noun, mainly in law: a per se violation |
| Origin | Per seLatin per, “by, through,” and se, “itself”; in English since the 1570s |
| Italics | Per seNot in APA style, which treats it as part of English |
| Misspellings | Per seper say, persay, per-say, per-se, per sey |
What per se means
Merriam-Webster defines per se as “by, of, or in itself or oneself or themselves,” and adds the glosses as such and intrinsically. Oxford's learner's dictionary describes the use: it shows you are talking about something on its own, not in connection with other things. In practice, per se nearly always draws a line between a thing and what surrounds it:
- Coffee isn't bad for you per se; four cups after midnight are.
- The software is fine per se. The training was the problem.
- She doesn't object to the merger per se, only to the timing.
The pattern is “not X per se, but Y,” and it's the use that earns the phrase its place. Per se also works without a negative, to fix attention on a thing in its narrow sense: Grammar per se is only a small part of editing.
In conversation, per se has also come to mean “exactly” or “strictly speaking”: I'm not a runner per se, I just jog on weekends. That's normal in speech. In edited prose it puts a Latin flourish on a hedge, and a plainer phrase usually reads better.
How to pronounce per se
Say pur-SAY, with the stress on the second word: /ˌpɜːr ˈseɪ/ in American English and /ˌpɜː ˈseɪ/ in British English, in Oxford's transcription. Merriam-Webster also lists pair-SAY and pur-SEE as less common variants, so you may hear either, but pur-SAY is the main one.
The sound is the source of the misspelling. Se rhymes with say, so a writer who has heard the phrase more often than read it reaches for the English word. It's the same trap as to and too: one sound, more than one spelling, and every spelling a real word, so nothing gets underlined.
Per say and other misspellings
| You may see | Write | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You may seeper say | Writeper se | WhyIt spells the sound, not the Latin |
| You may seepersay | Writeper se | WhyTwo words, not one |
| You may seeper-say, per-se | Writeper se | WhyNo hyphen, even in front of a noun: a per se rule |
| You may seeper sey, per sé | Writeper se | WhyNo extra letters and no accent |
| You may seepro se (to mean by itself) | Writeper se | WhyPro se is a different legal phrase: for oneself |
Pro se is the one real phrase in that list. It means for oneself, on one's own behalf, and a litigant who goes to court without a lawyer is said to be proceeding pro se. In legal writing, mixing the two up changes the meaning entirely.
Using per se in a sentence
- Put it right after the thing it isolates. “The tool per se is fine,” or “The tool isn't the problem per se.” Set far from its noun, it can attach to the wrong one.
- Give it something to contrast with. Per se is strongest with a but, an only or a semicolon that names the other thing.
- Skip the italics and the hyphen. APA lists per se among foreign phrases it doesn't italicize, because they appear in English dictionaries. If your style guide says otherwise, follow it every time.
| Instead of per se | When you mean | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Instead of per seby itself, on its own | When you meanIsolated from other factors | ExampleThe drug isn't harmful on its own. |
| Instead of per seas such | When you meanIn the strict sense of the word | ExampleHe isn't a manager as such, but he runs the schedule. |
| Instead of per sein itself | When you meanBy its nature | ExampleThe idea is not wrong in itself. |
| Instead of per seinherently, intrinsically | When you meanBy its essential nature (formal) | ExampleNothing is inherently wrong with a long sentence. |
| Instead of per sestrictly speaking, exactly | When you meanThe loose, conversational sense | ExampleI'm not against meetings, strictly speaking. |
Examples of per se in sentences
Everyday:
- I don't mind the commute per se; I mind the 6 a.m. alarm.
- The restaurant isn't expensive per se, but the wine list is.
- She wasn't angry about the decision per se, only that nobody asked her.
Writing and editing:
- Long sentences aren't a problem per se; unclear ones are.
- The manuscript isn't too long per se, but the middle sags.
- The editor had no objection to the prologue per se, only to its length.
- The passive voice isn't wrong per se; it can hide who did what.
Academic and business:
- The study does not measure intelligence per se, only test performance.
- Income per se predicted little; job security predicted a lot.
- We are not opposed to remote work per se.
Legal:
- The court held that the agreement was illegal per se.
- Speeding through a school zone may be negligence per se.
- Counsel argued that the arrangement created a per se conflict of interest.
When to cut per se
Read the sentence without it. If nothing changes, cut it. Per se earns its place only when the sentence separates one thing from another; when it stands in for “really” or “exactly,” it adds a Latin flourish and no meaning.
Before: We're not, per se, behind schedule, but the client may see it that way per se.
After: We're not behind schedule, but the client may see it that way.
Before: The issue isn't really the budget per se.
After: The issue isn't the budget; it's who controls it.
The second fix says outright the contrast per se was hinting at, and then per se has nothing left to do. In a long report, ask the Strokes Assistant to list every per se, as such and in and of itself with the sentence it sits in, then read each sentence without the phrase.
Practice: keep it or cut it
- The house isn't haunted per say.
- I'm not a morning person, per se.
- The treatment isn't dangerous per se, but it interacts with blood thinners.
- Persay, the plan is fine.
- He represented himself per se.
- The contract was found to be a per-se violation.
- Fix the spelling: per se.
- Fine in conversation; in edited prose, write “strictly speaking” or cut it.
- Keep it: it separates the treatment from the interaction.
- Fix the spelling and move it next to its noun: “The plan per se is fine.”
- Wrong phrase: he represented himself pro se, on his own behalf.
- Drop the hyphen: a per se violation.
Per se in legal writing
In law, per se means inherently, in itself: the act or the statement counts without the further proof that would normally be needed. Several doctrines carry it in their names, mostly in American law, and the details depend on the jurisdiction:
- Negligence per se. In US tort law, breaking a statute or regulation without an excuse can count as a breach of the duty of care in itself, so the injured party doesn't have to prove the breach separately.
- Defamation per se. Some false statements, such as accusing someone of a serious crime, are treated as harmful enough that damages can be presumed without proof of a specific loss. The categories vary by jurisdiction.
- Per se antitrust violations. Under US federal antitrust law, some agreements between competitors are illegal on their face. The Federal Trade Commission's guide to the antitrust laws names price fixing, dividing markets and rigging bids, and says that for these “no defense or justification is allowed.”
The Supreme Court put the price-fixing rule this way in 1940:
Under the Sherman Act, a combination formed for the purpose and with the effect of raising, depressing, fixing, pegging, or stabilizing the price of a commodity in interstate or foreign commerce is illegal per se.
As an adjective, it goes in front of the noun with no hyphen: a per se rule, a per se violation, a per se conflict of interest.
Where per se comes from
Per is the Latin preposition for “through” or “by,” the same per as in per capita (“by heads”), per annum (“by the year”) and per diem (“by the day”). Se is Latin's reflexive pronoun: himself, herself, itself or themselves, depending on the sentence. Medieval philosophers wrote per se for what belongs to a thing by its own nature, as against per accidens, what merely happens to be true of it. Merriam-Webster dates the first known use in English to 1574.
The phrase also hides inside a word you use every day. Early alphabet lists put the sign & after Z, and when the alphabet was recited, the sign was named “and per se and”: the character &, by itself, is the word and. Said fast, the phrase became ampersand, which Merriam-Webster dates to 1795.
Edgar Allan Poe used it exactly as intended:
…under the sun there neither exists nor can exist any work more thoroughly dignified—more supremely noble than this very poem—this poem per se—this poem which is a poem and nothing more—this poem written solely for the poem's sake.
Poe separates the poem from everything it might be asked to carry, and the phrases after per se spell out what it means. More Latin in everyday writing: et al. and how to use it. For prefixes borrowed from Latin, see inter vs intra.
Frequently asked questions
How do you pronounce per se?
The usual pronunciation is pur-SAY, /ˌpɜːr ˈseɪ/ in American English and /ˌpɜː ˈseɪ/ in British English, with the stress on se. Merriam-Webster also lists pair-SAY and pur-SEE as less common variants. The second syllable rhymes with say, which is why the phrase is so often misspelled per say.
Should per se be italicized?
Usually not. APA style lists per se among foreign phrases it does not italicize, because they appear in English dictionaries. If your publisher's or journal's style guide says otherwise, follow it, and treat per se the same way every time it appears.
Is it per se or pro se?
They are different phrases. Per se means by itself or in itself: “The clause isn't unfair per se.” Pro se means for oneself, on one's own behalf, and describes someone who goes to court without a lawyer: “She represented herself pro se.” In legal writing, swapping one for the other changes the meaning, so check which one the sentence needs.
What does negligence per se mean?
Negligence per se is a doctrine of US tort law: when someone breaks a statute or regulation without an excuse, the violation itself can count as a breach of the duty of care, so the injured party doesn't have to prove that breach separately. The conditions and details vary by jurisdiction, so check the law that applies where the case is.
