persuasion

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English persuasioun, also persuacioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French persuasion^[4][3][5] and directly borrowed from Latin persuāsiō (“act of persuading; conviction”).^[4][6][2] The Latin noun is formed from persuāsus, the past participle of persuādeō (“to persuade”),^[7][5][3] which is formed from per (“thoroughly, strongly”) and suādeō (“to urge, persuade”), from Proto-Indo-European *swād- (“sweet, pleasant”), the root of sweet.^[6] The French word is recorded from 1315 for the act of persuading.^[4] Dictionary.com notes that the Middle English form with -c-, from French, was replaced by one taken from the Latin stem.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A persuasive argument or inducement, and the act of persuading: about 1384, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, where Galatians 5:8 reads "this persuacioun".^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From the act of persuading the word came to mean an argument used to persuade (before 1398, in Trevisa),^[4] the power to persuade (1540),^[4] and then the result: a belief or opinion (about 1510, in Thomas More) and the state of being convinced (1534), the latter now archaic.^[4][6] Johnson (1755) defined it as the act of persuading and as "the state of being persuaded; opinion".^[9] Chaucer used it once, for a persuasive argument.^[10] From the 1620s, first in Donne, a persuasion was a religious creed,^[4][6] and by 1732 it also meant the group of people who hold it, a sect;^[4] later it was also used of a school of political thought.^[4] A colloquial, humorous use for a kind or sort of person, as in of the female persuasion, is recorded by 1855 in the OED^[4] and by 1864 in Etymonline.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – the act of persuading; a persuasive argument.^[4][2]
• before 1398 – an argument or appeal meant to persuade.^[4]
• c. 1510 – a belief or opinion.^[4]
• 1534 – the state of being convinced.^[4][6]
• 1540 – the power of persuading.^[4]
• 1623 – a religious creed.^[4][6]
• 1732 – a group holding a religious belief; a sect.^[4]
• 1855 – humorously, a kind or sort.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of persuading or trying to persuade someone: It took a lot of persuasion to get him on the plane.^[11][3][4]
2. The power or ability to persuade; persuasiveness.^[11][4]
3. An argument or inducement meant to persuade.^[3][4]
4. A firm belief or conviction.^[11][4]
5. An established creed, especially a religious one, or a school of political thought: voters of every political persuasion.^[11][4]
6. A group of people holding such a belief; a sect or faction.^[11][4]
7. (humorous) A kind or sort: a friend of the canine persuasion.^[4][6]

Word family

• prepersuasion
• self-persuasion

Related words

• persuade
• persuader
• persuasive
• suasion
• dissuade
• sweet

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins