understand vs perceive

understand and perceive both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
understand	No	No	Yes	No
perceive	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, perceive is a hyponym of understand; that is, perceive is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than understand:

Other hyponyms of understand include appreciate, take account.

understand (verb)	perceive (verb)
know and comprehend the nature or meaning of	become conscious of
perceive (an idea or situation) mentally	to become aware of through the senses
believe to be the case
make sense of a language
be understanding of