parhaps

Parhaps is not a standard English word. It is generally considered a misspelling or an archaic/variant spelling of perhaps, the adverb used to indicate possibility.

History and attestations: Occasional instances of parhaps appear in very early or manuscript texts, but these are rare and not treated as a distinct lexical item in contemporary dictionaries. When parhaps occurs, it is typically viewed as a copyist’s or printer’s error, or as an obsolete variant spelling that did not become established in standard orthography. There is no widely recognized separate meaning attached to parhaps in modern lexicography.

Usage and status: In modern English, parhaps is almost always considered incorrect for the sense of “it may be” or “perhaps.” Most style guides and dictionaries prescribe perhaps as the correct form. If encountered in historical material, parhaps is usually interpreted as a historical orthographic variant rather than evidence of a separate word or meaning.

See also: perhaps; spelling variants; orthography; English language history. References to parhaps are typically ancillary to discussions of spelling standardization and the evolution of English adverbs of possibility.