peri-

Descriptive of that which surrounds the internal organs of a body; specifically those within the chest (heart or lungs) or the abdomen (liver, pancreas, or intestines): The perivisceral tissue surrounding the lungs of the patient was inflamed, causing severe pain when she was breathing.

A wig or peruke [a wig, especially one worn by men in the 17th and 18th century].

It should be noticed that this peri- prefix is not related to the Greek peri- elements listed in this section. It is discussed here in order to clarify its origin and to clear up any confusion that may exist about its connection to the Greek prefix form.

For more than a century (from about 1660 to 1780) decorative heads of false hair were almost universally worn by fashionable men and women in Europe. In English, such headdresses were called perukes or periwigs. Both words are derived from Italian perruca, which originally meant "bushy head of hair" and later "wig".

Perruca was borrowed into French as perruque, which developed into two forms in English, peruke and periwig, which are synonymous. Periwig was shortened to wig, which is the form now in common use. The meaning of false hair, wig is first recorded in 1606, from the original use of false perruke (1565-1573).

An inflammatory reaction to a foreign body implanted in an organ or tissue of the body.

1. A property of living organisms wherein biochemical, physiological, and behavioral changes occur in response to systematic variations in light and darkness, as with the seasons or day and night.
2. Any of various behavioral and physiological changes in an organism in response to the amount of daylight to which the organism is exposed; for example, the relative length of day and night on a seasonal or daily basis.

A reference to the pleura (serous membranes covering the lungs) and pericardium (double membranous sac which envelops and protects the heart).

The pleural and peritoneal membranes, or the membrane lining the body cavity and covering the surface of the inclosed viscera; the peritoneum; used especially in the case of those animals in which the body cavity is not divided.

Pericarditis with the formation of gas in the pericardial cavity.

The presence of air in the plericardial cavity.

1. The presence of air or gas in the peritoneal cavity.
2. Injection of a gas into the peritoneal cavity as a diagnostic or therapeutic measure.

Peritonitis with the presence of air or gas in the peritoneal cavity.

Plastic surgery of the anus and perineum.

An archegonium-investing envelope of certain liveworts.

Appearing to originate from the pericardium.

A neurotic symptom complex resembling peritonitis.

Pus in the peritoneal cavity or the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity and covers most of the abdominal organs.