the ancient inhabitants of Palestine, who were mingled with the Canaanites. There is some probability that they themselves were Canaanites; but having no fixed habitations, being sometimes dispersed in one country and sometimes in another, they were for that reason called Perizzites, which signifies "scattered" or "dispersed." The Perizzites did not inhabit any certain portion of the land of Canaan; there were some of them on both sides of the river Jordan, in the mountains, and on the plains. In several places of Scripture the Canaanites and Perizzites are mentioned as the two principal tribes of the country.