Definition of the word, Suffrage
“The right or privilege of voting; franchise.”
It is derived from the Latin words frangere, to break, as in fracture and fragment, and suffrāgārī, to vote for (? <”to use a broken piece of tile as a ballot”>),
—The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
The meaning “right to vote” is first found in the U.S. Constitution, 1787.
“Suffragist” vs “Suffragette”
The term, “suffragist,” originally referred to people in favor of voting rights for free blacks in the early 1800s. It was later expanded to include those advocating for women’s right to vote, and was used both in the United States and Great Britain.
“Suffragette” was coined by a journalist in 1906 to mock the militant British suffrage group, the Women’s Social and Political Union. The WSPU embraced the term, pronouncing it, “SuffraGETtes.” to drive the point home that they would “GET” the vote. It is still used today to differentiate between the conservative and militant suffrage organizations.
Although American women working to win the vote preferred the term “suffragist” as being more dignified, “suffragette” came into common use as well.