charade

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃəˈɹɑːd/, /ʃəˈɹeɪd/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French charade,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} probably from Occitan charrado (“chat, chatter”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from charrá “to chat”,^[3][5][6] which is of imitative origin.^[3][4][6] The American Heritage Dictionary suggests a link with Italian ciarlare “to chatter”.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A riddle in which each syllable of a word, and then the whole word, is described enigmatically (1776).^[7][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The charade began as verse word-play, a near relation of the rebus.^[4][5] It was later acted out in pantomime, giving the parlour game of charades,^[6][2] and from that came the sense of an obvious pretence or travesty.^[2][5][6]

Timeline

• 1776 – a word riddle.^[7][3][4][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (often plural) A game in which players act out a word or phrase in pantomime for others to guess.
2. A word or phrase acted out in this game, or described in a riddle.
3. An obvious pretense; a travesty.

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press