Difference between 招く and 誘う:
• Both have meanings of inviting someone over.
• 招く has additional meanings of beckoning someone over with a signal, and inviting fortune/misfortune.
• 誘う has additional meanings of prompting a feeling, and being tempted to do something one's not supposed to do.

誘う = casual invite, like “Hey, wanna hang out?”

招待 = formal invite, like “You’re cordially invited…”

Person を Event に 誘う→To invite a person to an event

Eg: ジョンさんはマリさんを映画に誘いました。→John invited Mary to the movies.

招待 is "more formal, like inviting to a wedding or birthday party."


誘う - "is used in more casual settings, but there is no limit on time element (can be immediate, or next week etc.). So asking someone out to go to a movie, or on a date, would be described by this verb. Can often be associated with spur of the moment"

招く - "is more formal than 誘う, but often (not always) used for invitation of non-human kind (e.g., invitation of fortunes or happiness)"

[www.japan-guide.com]

Sass, so? Invite her anyway!

SASOri of the sand invited me to an akatsuki get together

You werent invited? Why didnt you (say so)?

I SA SOUmething (saw something) that tempted me

I SAW you over there, Soooo I wanted to invite you to join us. さそう

cooc: 誘いに来る
cooc: 涙を誘う
possibly さす {to make {someone} do, to allow {someone} to} + 沿う

回りくどい means long-winded, convoluted, or roundabout in a negative sense—it usually annoys people because it's unnecessarily complicated.

遠回し literally means roundabout too, but it's neutral or even positive (socially considerate): it's about being indirect to soften your words or avoid hurting someone's feelings.

Source: [hinative.com] + the Weblio definitions and examples.