Desist

How to spell desist

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce desist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does desist mean?

1. verbTo stop doing something; to cease from an action.

Desist in a sentence

• The lawyer warned the company to desist from using the trademark.

• The council ordered the builders to desist until permits were approved.

Where does desist come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb desistere, which meant 'to leave off' or 'to cease'. It was formed from the prefix de-, meaning 'from' or 'down', joined to sistere, meaning 'to stand still' or 'to bring to a stop'. That sistere is itself a causative form of stare, 'to stand', the same deep root that gives English words such as 'stable', 'station', and 'persist'. English took the word in during the late 1400s, borrowing it through Old French desister, and from the start it carried the formal, almost legal sense of stopping an action one is engaged in. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the s before the final letters is pronounced like a 'z', which tempts writers to reach for a wrong letter, yet the s belongs to the original Latin sist.

How the word is built

• de- (from, off)
• sist (from Latin sistere: to stand, to stop)