sham

Etymology

It is of uncertain origin.^[2][3][4][5] Most dictionaries suggest that it is a northern dialect form of shame,^{[6][7][8][5][9][3]} and Klein states this as fact, giving "trick, fraud" as the original meaning.^[10] The OED notes that the word first appears as slang, with the verb, about 1677, and at once came into very frequent use; it finds the link with shame "not impossible" if the slang word arose from some once well-known anecdote or incident in a play.^[2][3] Roger North (before 1734) called it "true Cant of the Newmarket Breed", shortened from ashamed, telling of a town lady disguised as a country maid who pretended to be ashamed; the OED doubts that this story accounts for the early senses.^[2][11] North also claimed that Dangerfield brought the word into general use in the phrase “sham plot”, but it was already common some years before 1680.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A trick, hoax or fraud: 1677, in Wycherley's The Plain-Dealer, which also has the verb, to cheat or trick.^[2][9][3] Green's Dictionary of Slang gives an example dated 1669 from R. L'Estrange's Miscellaneous Fables, in an edition of 1692.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The adjective, false or counterfeit, followed in 1681 (sham fight, a mock battle),^[2][9] and the noun's early sense "trick, hoax" lasted until about 1821.^[2] The main modern sense, something meant to be mistaken for something else, dates from 1728,^[2][9][3] and the OED thinks it probably grew out of the adjective;^[2] it was applied to persons from 1850, in Carlyle.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) called the noun "a low word".^[12] The verb moved from "deceive" to "pretend": Barnhart dates "pretend to be" to 1698,^[9] and the OED has "counterfeit a condition" from 1775, in Burney.^[2] From 1721 a sham was also a false shirt front;^[2] since 1884 it has also been a decorative cover for a pillow, the pillow sham.^[2] The word gave shamateur, an amateur sportsman who behaves like a professional, in 1896.^[3] In Scots and northern English dialect the verb still meant to cheat or trick in the 19th century.^[13]

Timeline

• 1677 – noun, a trick or hoax; verb, to cheat.^[2][9]
• 1681 – adjective, pretended, counterfeit.^[2][9]
• 1698 – verb, to pretend to be.^[9]
• 1721 – a false shirt front.^[2]
• 1728 – something meant to be mistaken for something else.^[2][9]
• 1775 – to counterfeit a condition.^[2]
• 1850 – a person who is not what he pretends to be.^[2]
• 1884 – a pillow sham.^[2]
• 1896 – shamateur.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something that is not what it claims or appears to be; a fake or a pretence: The election was a sham.^[14][7][2]
2. A person who pretends to be something he or she is not; an impostor.^[14][2]
3. Falseness or hypocrisy.^[7][2]
4. A trick meant to deceive; a hoax.^[7][2]
5. A decorative cover, as for a pillow.^[7][2]

Adjective

1. Not genuine; counterfeit, pretended or simulated: a sham marriage, a sham fight.^[14][7][2]

Verb

1. To pretend to have or be: The striker shammed an injury.^[14][7][2]
2. To make false pretences; to feign: He isn't ill, he's only shamming.^[14][2]
3. (archaic; obsolete in the OED, 1677–1821) To trick or deceive.^[7][2]

Word family

• shammer

Related words

• shame
• ashamed

Usage notes

Several other words are spelled sham.^[11][13] In British slang sham was short for champagne, from 1840 in Thackeray,^[11] and it is also a short form of shamus.^[11] English dialects had further verbs sham: in Scotland, to make faces, and in Somerset, a horse-hoe and to hoe with one.^[13]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
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 c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins