Per se meaning Per se means “by itself” or “intrinsically.” It comes from Latin: “ Per ” is the Latin preposition for “by,” “through,” or “via.” “ Se ” is the Latin reflexive pronoun for “itself,” “herself,” or “himself.” Per se can be considered a prepositional phrase, since “ per ” is a preposition. It could also be considered an adverbial phrase, given that it modifies a verb, adjective, or idea to indicate that the thing in question should be ... The per se cause of the house is the building skill and the craftsman who exercises it, while the per accidens cause is the fair-skinned or the artistic man. Alexander says: 'Aristotle says that just as anything that exists is one thing per se and another per accidens (by “being what it is per se ” he means the substance, and by "what is per accidens" he means the attributes of the substance), so a cause is one thing per se and another per accidens. The meaning of PERSE is of a dark grayish blue resembling indigo. How to use perse in a sentence. Did you know? PER SE meaning : 1. by or of itself: 2. by or of itself: 3. by or of itself: . Learn more.