Sew - sow

The verbs to sew and to sow are homophones, with each other and with the common adverb/conjunction so. They should not be confused, either by a careless typing error or por knowledge of spelling. Furthermore, neither should be confused with the near homophone sue; and, in an extra complication, there are homographs of both verbs.

• 'To sew' (pronounced like 'sao') is 'to join things, usually cloth, leather or similar soft materials, together by passing thread or some other cords through holes in the material.' Sewing is the most basic form of needlework.
  • All the homographs (OED lists 5 verbs, 2 nouns and an adjective, with a variety of pronunciations) of this word are recorded as obsolete, or merely dialect. Unless you are studying history, or older literature, you will not need them; and if you are studying such things, you should be used to using a good dictionary. Two of the verbs give rise to different forms of sewer - sower, of which one homograph is obsolete.
• 'To sow' (again sounding exactly the same as 'so') is 'to scatter seed (or sometimes place it very carefully) so that it may begin to grow into a useful crop'.
  • Of its several homographs, the only one current in academic English is the noun 'a sow'. This word rhymes with 'now' and 'how', and means 'a female pig'.
• Sue represents two words.
  • As a proper noun, with a capital letter (Sue), it is the short form of the woman's name Susan;.
  • As a verb, it means 'to seek', or 'to try to negotiate for'. It is mostly used in the specific legal sense of 'to start proceedings in forecourts in order to assert a claim, or ask for compensation'. A legal action of this sort is called a suit, or lawsuit. One can sue somebody: in this construction, there is no need to say what for. The assumption is that it is for compensation (for a perceived injury). One can also sue [either intransitively or with a person's name] for something, such as money or a ruling of some kind - perhaps a court order to stop some behaviour seen as a nuisance, or an infringement of peace or privacy.
  • You may come across two rather more old-fashioned uses:
    • To sue for peace, in older histories, was to open negotiations to end a war.
    • To sue for [a woman's] hand was to ask a woman to marry [sometimes her father for permission to]. This gave rise to the noun suitor, to mean a man who was courting a woman.

Etymological note: The verb 'to sue' is derived from the French suivre, 'to follow', originally the Latin sequor. This is also the original root of 'to prosecute' (usually) 'to undertake [officially] an court action against someone for breaking the criminal law'; but also 'to follow up', 'to carry on', as in 'to prosecute inquiries' (~ 'to continue an investigation'), or ' to prosecute one's business') and 'to pursue.