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fraud

Etymology and origin of the English word fraud

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1278
Borrowed from
Old French fraude
Ultimate origin
Latin (fraus)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /frɔːd/, US /frɑːd/, /frɔːd/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English fraude, borrowed from Old French fraude (“deception, fraud”),[2][3][4] from Latin fraus (“deceit, injury”),[2][3] of uncertain origin.[2][3] Etymonline and MWU compare Sanskrit dhūrta “fraudulent” and dhruti “deception”.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, in fraud of, so as to defraud: 1278 in the OED, and the mid-13th century in Anglo-Latin.[6][2] Criminal deception is from about 1330 in the OED, 1345–46 in Barnhart.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

An act of deception or trick is from about 1374,[6] and the quality of being deceitful from about 1400.[6] Pious fraud, deception for a supposedly good purpose, is from the 1560s.[2][6] A fraudulent contrivance, something meant to deceive, is from the 1650s, 1658 in the OED.[2][6] The Statute of Frauds of 1678 required certain contracts to be in writing.[6] An impostor or humbug, of a person, is from 1850.[2][6] Fraudulent is from before 1420, in Lydgate.[3]

Timeline

  • 1278 – in fraud of (law).[6]
  • c. 1330 – criminal deception.[6]
  • 1560s – pious fraud.[2]
  • 1658 – something meant to deceive.[6]
  • 1850 – an impostor.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The crime of deceiving people to get money or an advantage.
  2. A trick or deception.
  3. A person who pretends to be what they are not; an impostor.
  4. Something that is not what it claims to be.

Word family

  • fraudful
  • fraudfully
  • antifraud
  • defraud
  • fraudulence
  • fraudulent
  • prefraud
  • wire fraud
  • fraudster

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Fraud.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/fraud. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·