persecution
/ˌpɜːsəˈkjuːʃən/pur-suh-KYOO-shuhn
/ˌpɝsəˈkjuʃən/pur-suh-KYOO-shuhn
Meaningthe act of persecuting
Common meaning: cruel treatment, often for beliefs
- perthrough; thoroughly
- secuto follow, come afterLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1677 · scan
- tverb or noun ending (part of the Latin stem)
- ionnoun ending: act or result
‘through’ + ‘to follow, come after’ → persecution
Journey through time
- Latinsequor, secūtus‘to follow, come after’
- Frenchpersecuter
- Englishpersecute‘to treat cruelly, hounding someone’
- Englishformed in English from persecutepersecution‘cruel treatment, often for beliefs’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from persecute + -ion.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), PERSECUTE, p.436 · scan
Roots
- sequor, secūtus Latin “to follow, come after”
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