deceptive

Etymology

It is borrowed from French déceptif,^[2][3][4][5] recorded in French from 1378,^[2] or directly borrowed from Late Latin dēceptīvus;^[6][5] Etymonline and Klein call the Latin word Medieval Latin.^[3][4] The Latin adjective is formed from dēceptus, the past participle of dēcipiō (“to ensnare, take in, cheat”), with the suffix -īvus;^[3][5][7][4] the verb is formed from dē- and capiō (“to take”),^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).^[3] The English word replaced the earlier deceptious (about 1600) and deceptory (mid-15th century).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Apt or tending to deceive: 1611, in Cotgrave's French–English dictionary.^[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The OED notes that it was a recent word in English, not used by Shakespeare.^[2] A use as a noun, a deceiving faculty, is recorded only in 1652.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "having the power of deceiving", deriving it from deceit.^[8] In music a deceptive cadence is an interrupted cadence.^[9]

Timeline

• 1611 – apt to deceive, in Cotgrave.^[2][5]
• 1652 – noun, a deceiving faculty (obsolete).^[2]
• 1755 – in Johnson, having the power of deceiving.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Likely or intended to give a false impression; misleading: The calm water was deceptive, since the current was strong. In the proverb appearances can be deceptive.^{[9][10][5][2]}
2. (music) Of a cadence: interrupted.^[9]

Word family

• deceptiveness
• deceptively
• nondeceptive
• undeceptive
• deceptive cadence

Related words

• deceit
• deceive
• deception

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary warns that the adverb deceptively before an adjective can be ambiguous: a pool described as deceptively shallow may be shallower or deeper than it looks.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt