Is it okay to use either persue or pursue? Actually, it isn’t. That’s because persue is a common misspelling, not a variation, and the correct spelling of the word is pursue. To learn the meaning of pursue and its correct usage. 

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What Is Pursue?

Pursue is an action verb, a type of verb that conveys mental or physical activity. It’s also often used as a transitive verb, which means that something (a direct object) is “receiving” the action. In other words, a person or animal is pursuing something.

The word’s origins go all the way back to the Latin prosequi (prosecute). It later evolved into the Anglo-Norman French pursuer. The present form came about from Middle English, though the meaning at the time was “follow with enmity.”

Today, the word has six different meanings. Familiar to most is the idea of trying to capture or overtake someone or something. Another is to seek something, but not in the same sense as the previous definition. The other definitions are synonymous with proceed, engage in, follow up or proceed with, and haunt.

Following are six examples, one for each usage:

• The tiger stealthily pursued its prey.
• Do you have the qualifications to pursue that position?
• Let’s try to pursue a course to that major landmark.
• I’ve decided to pursue rock climbing as a hobby.
• If you want to pursue that line of argument, go right ahead.
• The terrible memories of that night will pursue him forever.
• We need to pursue new business opportunities to stay afloat. 

When and How to Use Pursue

You’ve seen different definitions of pursue and how to use it. However, did you know that you can use the word in the context of someone or something seeking to attain, follow, or adhere to something else? In this scenario, you use it more passively even though it’s still in the active voice.

When you’re using any context like that, especially with an element of a chase, hunt, or quest involved, using pursue should be fine. There are times, though, when you might want to take social context into consideration.

An example of this might be a boy with a crush on a girl. If he says he intends to pursue her, he’s most likely saying he wants to win her affection.

You might have noticed that the first sentence in the previous section uses the past tense of the verb. Pursue is a regular verb, which means all you need to do is add the suffix -d or -ed for its past and past participles. For instance: 

• The hunter pursued the trail. 
• The student pursued his college degree in medicine. 
• The paparazzi pursued the celebrity. 

There are also variations in different parts of speech. For example:

• The police engaged in a high speed pursuit of the suspect. (noun)
• Pursuing the treasure was the knight’s motivation. (gerund– verb ending in -ing used as a noun)
• With the scant evidence, do you think this case is pursuable? (adjective)
• Pursuant to that section of the legal code, your plan would be illegal. (adverb)

Persue or Pursue: Which Spelling Is Correct?

So we said that persue is not correct, but why is that?

Persue is an obsolete form of the world. This means it’s an antiquated form no longer used. Technically, that makes it a misspelling. It’s not a regional or national variation acceptable in some places but not others.

Therefore, the question of whether to use persue or pursue is easy to answer: the latter is the only correct one.

Trick to Remembering the Spelling

It would be nice if there were a simple rule like any word with an ur sound is spelled that way. English is not nice that way. For example, words like her and fir make such a rule useless.

If you want to remember how to spell pursue correctly, there’s a mnemonic that might help. It goes like this: “Go in search of a purse.” (The letters of purse are within pursue– see our bolding.)

If that doesn’t help, the next best thing, unless you have a spell checker on, might be to use one of the many synonyms of pursue. Here are some: 

• Chase
• Follow
• Seek
• Shadow
• Tail
• Track

Final Thoughts

There is a lot of confusion and misconception about the correct spelling of pursue because of its pronunciation. But remember, for clarity, accuracy, and effective communication in your writing, don’t use “persue.” You should pursue to use the word “pursue.”