dogged
English doing what only English can.
Investigators dogged dogged suspects until they surrendered.
The sentence depicts how investigators persistently pursued tenacious suspects until they gave up.
Meanings
the past tense of 'dog' — pursued persistently or trailed someone closely, as a dog tracking a scent
- Reporters dogged the politician for weeks.
- Bad luck dogged him through his entire career.
showing tenacity and grim persistence
- Her dogged determination eventually paid off.
- Despite setbacks, they continued their dogged pursuit of the truth.
Word origin
Both senses come from 'dog' (Old English docga, of unknown origin — replaced the more general Old English hund, which survives as 'hound'). The verb 'to dog' someone meant 'to track like a dog'; the past tense /dɒɡd/ is one syllable. The adjective 'dogged' (tenacious) is two syllables /ˈdɒɡɪd/ because it's an old participial adjective formed with the obsolete -ed suffix that retained its vowel — like 'learned' /ˈlɜːrnɪd/, 'aged' /ˈeɪdʒɪd/, and 'wretched'.
Fun fact
The two-syllable adjective 'dogged' /ˈdɒɡɪd/ belongs to a small fossilized class of English -ed adjectives where the vowel of the ending survives: 'learned', 'aged', 'wretched', 'wicked', 'naked', 'crooked'. Most -ed past participles dropped the vowel centuries ago; these few held onto it for reasons we don't fully understand.