Etymology

persecution

per·se·cu·tion
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Today it means: The act of persecuting, especially a specific group of people; an instance of persecution. Full definition →

Middle English persecucioun ← Old French persecucion ← Ecclesiastical Latin persecūtio
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frompersequor“follow up, pursue”
  2. Ecclesiastical Latin · derived frompersecūtio“persecution; chase, pursuit”
  3. Old French · derived frompersecucion
  4. Middle English · inherited frompersecucioun
  5. English todaypersecution

Equivalent to persecute + -ion. From Middle English persecucioun, from Old French persecucion, from Ecclesiastical Latin persecūtio (“persecution; chase, pursuit”), from Latin persequor (“follow up, pursue”), from per- (“through”) + sequor (“follow”). Displaced native Old English ēhtnes.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.