Etymograph

English

persuade

Persuade comes from Latin persuādeō ‘to persuade’, from suādeō ‘to advise’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₂d- ‘sweet’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sweh₂d-1‘sweet’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*swādejō2reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuādeō3‘to advise’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpersuādeō1‘to persuade’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1577persuade1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English persuade
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin suadeo
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin persuadeo
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1577, Socrates Scholasticus [i.e., Socrates of Constantinople]: “[VV]e are able with playne demonſtration to proue, and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sweh₂d-Wiktionary, English persuade‘sweet’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*swādejōWiktionary, Latin suadeoreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuādeōWiktionary, Latin persuadeo‘to advise’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpersuādeōWiktionary, English persuade‘to persuade’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1577persuadeWiktionary, English persuade. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1577, Socrates Scholasticus [i.e., Socrates of Constantinople]: “[VV]e are able with playne demonſtration to proue, and…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with persuade, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *sweh₂d- ‘sweet’

  • sweet ← soot ← swēte ← *swōtī ← *swōtuz
  • hedonism ← ἡδονή
  • suave ← suāvis ← *swāwis ← *suādwus ← *swéh₂dus
  • assuage ← aswagen ← asuagier ← *assuāviō ← suāvis
  • hedonic ← ἡδονικός
  • hedonist ← ἡδονή

8 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To successfully convince (someone) to agree to, accept, or do something, usually through reasoning and verbal influence.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “persuade”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin suadeo, Latin persuadeo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sweh₂d- / persuade