Persecute - prosecute

The two verbs 'to persecute' and 'to prosecute', with the related nouns persecution and prosecution, are sometimes confused, by a slip of the brain, tiredness, or clumsy typing fingers. They have undoubted similarity in spelling, rather less in pronunciation, and an overlap in meaning and etymology.

• To persecute a person or organization is 'to treat [it] unfairly and persistently'; 'to oppress or torment the victim'; 'to harass or persistently annoy'. The relatednoun is persecution.
• The original meaning of 'to prosecute' was
  • 'to persevere in a course of action [to the end]', 'to follow up' or 'to pursue'. This is still used with such objects as 'inquiries' (police may 'prosecute their inquiries', or continue an investigation; a scientist may prosecute the study of a particular phenomenon) and wars or campaigns (a general may prosecute the war to the utmost; a politician may prosecute the aim of reforming prisons'.
  • The commonest meaning now is 'to carry out an action in a law court to prove that a person charged with an offence is actually guilty of it'. The chief of these is the Posecutor: "a barrister or other lawyer who conducts the case against a defendant in a criminal court" (OED (2007). Prosecution is now restricted to criminal,k courts,

The related noun is prosecution. This is also used,in an abbreviated way, to mean 'the lawyer [or team of lawyers etc] who aim to prove the accused's guilt': "It is the prosecution's case that ...".

The confusion between these two words can be seen when one realizes that a person subject to repeatedprosecutions by the police (and acquitted of all of them) may believe he is being persecuted.

Etymological note: both 'to persecute' and 'to prosecute' are derived from the Latin verb sequor, sequi, secutum, 'to follow'.

In persecute it is combined with the prefix per-, which can mean 'thoroughly' or 'to the bad' - or, as in 'persecute', both of these.

In prosecute sequor is preceded by the prefix pro-, 'forward', 'onward'.