Persuade

How to spell persuade

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce persuade

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does persuade mean?

1. verbTo cause someone to believe or do something through reasoning or argument.

Persuade in a sentence

• The salesman tried to persuade her to upgrade the contract.

• No amount of evidence could persuade the committee to change its policy.

Where does persuade come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin persuadere, which combined the intensifying prefix per-, meaning 'thoroughly' or 'completely', with the verb suadere, meaning 'to advise' or 'to urge'. So at its root it meant to advise someone thoroughly until they came round to your view, which is very close to how we still use it. The suadere root is connected to the idea of sweetness and agreeableness, and it survives in the English word 'suave', describing someone smoothly agreeable, as well as in the formal noun 'suasion'. English took the word in during the early 1500s, partly through Old French and partly straight from Latin. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the silent-feeling 'su' followed by 'ade' tempts writers toward 'perswade' or 'persaude', but remembering the Latin suadere keeps the order correct.

How the word is built

• per- (thoroughly, completely)
• suade (from Latin suadere: to advise, urge)