Other forms: cajoled, cajoling, cajoles
To cajole is to coax somebody with flattery. Cajole him into it, cajoled and flattered, cajole a decision.
It takes into and it always implies persistence — cajoling is wearing somebody down pleasantly, which is why it sits between persuading and nagging. Note that the French is probably a blend of two verbs, one about chattering like a jay and one about luring a bird into a cage.
1verbcajoleTo coax somebody with flattery.
“She cajoled her little brother into tidying her room by telling him how strong he was.”
cajole is a coaxing.
French cajoler is probably a blend of a verb meaning to chatter like a jay and one meaning to lure into a cage.
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱewh₁-
Latin
caveola
Medieval Latin
gabiola
Old French
gaioler — entice into a cage
Middle French
cageoler — chatter like a jay
French
cajoler
English, today
cajole
Built from
Borrowed from French cajoler, probably a blend of Middle French cageoler (“chatter like a jay”) (from gajole, dialectal diminutive of geai (“jaybird”)) + Old French gaioler (“entice into a cage”), which is from Medieval Latin gabiola, from Latin caveola (whence caveola), diminutive of Latin cavea (“cage, coop, enclosure, stall”). More at a doublet of cage and cave and cavum and cavus and jail.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA