Etymologically
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collusion

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Pronunciation

  • /kəˈluːʒən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English collusioun,[2][3] borrowed from Old French collusion[4][5][6] and directly borrowed from Latin collūsiō (“a playing together; collusion”),[4][5][7][2] from the past participle of collūdō (“to play together; to collude”),[7][8] formed from com- (“with, together”) and lūdō (“to play”), from lūdus (“game, play”).[4][5][8] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1291–92.[9] The verb collude was borrowed from the same Latin verb in 1525.[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, a secret agreement between persons to get round the law or to gain an end by fraud: 1389, in the London guild returns.[2][5] The OED's first example is from Chaucer's Lak of Stedfastnesse (c. 1397), the only time Chaucer uses it.[6][10]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that the literal sense "a playing together", given in Blount's Glossographia (1656), is not found in use in Latin or English: the word meant secret, underhand agreement from the start.[6] Weekley explains the Latin as playing into one another's hands.[11] The specifically legal sense, an agreement between apparent opponents in a lawsuit to deceive the court or defraud a third party, is recorded from 1509–10,[6] and Johnson (1755) quoted Cowell's definition of it as a deceitful compact between two or more to bring an action against each other for an evil purpose.[12] From 1581 to 1659 the word could also mean a trick or ambiguity in words or reasoning.[6]

Timeline

  • 1389 – a secret fraudulent agreement, in law.[2][5]
  • c. 1397 – secret understanding for trickery, in Chaucer.[6]
  • 1509–10 – law, collusion between parties to a suit.[6]
  • 1525 – the verb collude.[5]
  • 1578 – an instance of collusion, a plot.[6]
  • 1581 – a trick in reasoning (obsolete after 1659).[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Secret agreement or cooperation for a fraudulent or deceitful purpose; conspiracy: The two firms acted in collusion to fix prices.[3][13][14][6]
  2. (law) A secret agreement between parties who appear to be opponents in a lawsuit, to deceive the court or to defraud another of their rights.[13][3][6]

Word family

  • collusive
  • collusively
  • noncollusion
  • precollusion
  • collude
  • delusion
  • allusion
  • elusion
  • illusion
  • ludicrous
  • prelude
  • interlude

Usage notes

Etymonline quotes Fowler: the idea of fraud or underhandedness is essential to collusion.[4] Dictionary.com notes that it is sometimes confused with collision.[14]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House