• (British) IPA: /pɜːtʃ/
• (America) IPA: /pɝt͡ʃ/

From Middle English perche, from Old French perche, from Latin perca, from Ancient Greek πέρκη, cognate with περκνός ("dark-spotted").

perch

1. Any of the three species of spiny-finned freshwater fish in the genus Perca.
2. Any of the about 200 related species of fish in the taxonomic family Percidae, especially:
   1. (South Africa) Acanthopagrus berda
   2. (Ghana) Distichodus engycephalus, Distichodus rostratus
   3. (Australia) Johnius belangerii, Macquaria ambigua, Macquaria colonorum, Macquaria novemaculeata, Nemadactylus macropterus
   4. (USA) Kyphosus azureus
   5. (UK) Lateolabrax japonicus, Tautogolabrus adspersus
3. Several similar species in the order Perciformes, such as the grouper.

• French: perche
• German: Barsch
• Italian: pesce persico, perca
• Portuguese: perca
• Russian: о́кунь
• Spanish: perca

• Italian: luccioperca, sandra, luccio
• Portuguese: pércida, percídeo
• Spanish: perca

• Italian: spigola, branzino
• Portuguese: perciforme

From Middle English perche, from Old French perche, from Latin pertica.

perch

1. A rod, staff, tree branch, ledge, etc., used as a roost by a bird.
   • 1874, Alfred Tennyson, “Dedication”, in Idylls of the King (The Works of Alfred Tennyson; V), cabinet edition, London: Henry S. King & Co., […], →OCLC ↗, page 8 ↗:

     We know him now: […] / Not making his high place the lawless perch / Of wing'd ambitions, nor a vantage-ground / For pleasure; […]

2. A pole connecting the fore gear and hind gear of a spring carriage; a reach.
3. (figuratively) A position that is secure and advantageous, especially one which is prominent or elevated.
4. (figuratively) A position that is overly elevated or haughty.
   • 1612–1613 (date written), John Webster, The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy. […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, for Iohn Waterson, […], published 1623, →OCLC ↗, Act II, scene iv ↗:

     You may thanke me, (Lady) / I haue taken you off your mellancholly pearch, / Boare you vpon my fiſt, and ſhew'd you game, / And let you flie at it: I pray the kiſſe me, […]

5. (dated) A linear measure of 5+¹⁄₂ yards, equal to a rod, a pole or ¹⁄₄ chain; the related square measure.
6. A cubic measure of stonework equal to 16.6 × 1.5 × 1 feet.
7. (textiles) A frame used to examine cloth.
8. A bar used to support a candle, especially in a church.
9. (theatre) A platform for lights to be directed at the stage.

• French: perchoir
• German: Hühnerstange
• Italian: pertica, trespolo
• Portuguese: poleiro
• Russian: насе́ст
• Spanish: alcándara, percha

perch (perches, present participle perching; simple past and past participle perched)

1. (intransitive) To rest on a perch (especially, of a bird); to roost.

   The macaw perched on Jim's shoulder.

2. (intransitive) To sit upon the edge of something.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Which Describes an Evening in Strange Company ↗”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     The platform was already crowded, but the newcomers threaded their way to the front amid a decorous murmur of welcome. Mr. Peeble shoved and exhorted and two end seats emerged upon which Enid and Malone perched themselves.

3. (intransitive) To stay in an elevated position.
4. (transitive) To place something on (or as if on) a perch.
5. (transitive, intransitive, textiles) To inspect cloth using a perch.

• French: se percher
• German: niederlassen, setzen, niedersetzen
• Italian: appollaiarsi
• Portuguese: empoleirar-se
• Spanish: empercharse

• Russian: возвышаться

• French: percher, jucher (old)
• Portuguese: empoleirar
• Spanish: emperchar

1. Surname.
2. a type of freshwater fish