How to spell persuasion

hear itper·sua·sion/pər'sweɪʒən/nounSilent and tricky

What it means: The act of convincing someone.

In a sentence: The magic show used persuasion to ask the rabbit to jump out of the hat.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as persuation or perswaision.

Same family: persuasive, persuaded, persuading, convince, influence. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Persuasion” comes from Latin *persuadere*, meaning “to convince thoroughly,” built from *per-* (“thoroughly”) and *suadere* (“to advise”). Jane Austen used the word as the title of her last completed novel, highlighting the power of influence in personal relationships.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

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