verb/pɛʁ.se/
to pierce; to make it, to have one's breakthrough
“Un comédien new-yorkais finit par percer en se travestissant en femme.”
From Old French percier, from Vulgar Latin *pertusiāre, from Latin pertusus (“perforated”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-dʰh₁- (“to pierce, strike”). Compare Italian pertugiare.