Persevere

This is a commonly misspelled word. Its correct spelling is here: persevere.

You should persevere with your efforts at correct spelling; it comes with practice.

• It is one of the quirks of the history of the English language that in Early Modern English, such writers as Shakespeare and Marlowe pronounced the verb 'to persevere' with the stress on the second syllable, 'per-SEV-er', IPA: /pə^r ˈsɛv ə^r/. By the eighteenth century, Milton's pronunciation, with the stress on the third syllable, had become universal, as it now is: 'purs-e-VEER', /pə^r sɛv ˈiː^r/. The same is true of such derivative words as the participle persevering: 'purse-e-VEER-ing', /pə^r sə ˈviːr ɪŋ/ and the noun perseverance (formerly 'purse-EV-er-uns', /pə^r ˈsɛv ər əns/; now 'per-seh-VEER-uns', /pə^r sə ˈviːr əns/).
  • OED (2020) comments: "The two forms arise from the shifting stress in French (compare persévéˈrer and perséˈvère) and Latin (compare persevēˈrāre and perseˈvērat). Milton's use was doubtless determined by Latin quantity." Milton was renowned for his scholarship, being appointed 'Secretary for Foreign Tongues' (principally Latin) in the Commonwealth government in 1649.

Etymological note: persevere comes. through French persévérer, from Latin persevērāre, 'to continue steadfastly', 'persist', 'to press on', 'to last'. This was formed from the intensifier per- and the adjective sevērus 'severe'. Persevērus meant 'very strict'.

This page was suggested by the list of "25 of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language", in the article on "spelling" in Garner, Bryan A., The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, Oxford University Press, 2000; on line at Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press, under licence to Hull University. 18 July 2006. <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t26.e2017>. Although the list claims "25 of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language", it may reflect the American language of the book rather than AWE's experience of English teaching in Britain. Users of AWE may find more use in our categories spelling and spelling common errors.

AWE shares the confidence of the original article: "Naturally, [the commonly misspelled words] are spelled correctly here".