stratagem

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French stratageme, also strategeme, now stratagème,^[2][3][4][5] and partly directly borrowed from Latin stratēgēma (“piece of generalship, ruse”),^[2] from Ancient Greek στρατήγημα (stratḗgēma, “the act of a general; a military trick”),^[6][2][7] from στρατηγεῖν (stratēgeîn, “to be a general, to command”),^[6][7][5] from στρατηγός (stratēgós, “general”),^[6][7][5] formed from στρατός (stratós, “army”) and ἄγειν (ágein, “to lead”).^[8][9][10] Barnhart, the American Heritage Dictionary, Etymonline, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com derive the French word from Italian stratagemma (“war ruse”), with the second vowel assimilated to the first;^{[5][8][7][11][12]} the OED notes instead that the Italian word is first recorded only before 1587, later than the English, and that Medieval Latin stratagema was already the spelling in Medieval Latin from the 13th century.^[2] The French word is recorded from the early 15th century, and in 1372 as strategemmate, after the Latin stem, but its sense "trick, ploy" is attested only in 1574, after the English one.^[2] It is related to strategy.^[7][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A trick for deceiving or surprising an enemy in war: 1489, in Caxton's translation of Christine de Pisan's Fayttes of Armes.^[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the late 15th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Hoad dates the sense "artifice to surprise an enemy" to the 15th century and the general sense "device, trick" to the 16th.^[4] The OED records "a plan or scheme to outwit an opponent or gain an end" from 1561, the use of stratagems in war from about 1576, in Gascoigne, and the skill of devising schemes, cunning, from 1594, in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.^[2] Between 1581 and 1616 the word could also mean a violent deed, especially a murder.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it first as an artifice in war and then as any artifice or trick, quoting Henry VI: "To tutor thee in stratagems of war".^[13]

Timeline

• 1489 – a military trick to deceive the enemy, in Caxton.^[2][5]
• 1561 – any scheme to outwit an opponent or gain an end.^[2]
• c. 1576 – the use of military stratagems, in Gascoigne.^[2]
• 1581 – a violent act, especially a murder (obsolete by 1616).^[2]
• 1594 – cunning, skill in devising schemes, in Shakespeare.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A trick or ruse in war for deceiving and outwitting the enemy.^[11][14][2]
2. Any clever plan or scheme for gaining an end or an advantage: His stratagem for avoiding the meeting failed.^[11][14][2]
3. Skill in devising such plans; cunning.^[11][2]

Related words

• strategic
• strategist
• strategy

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins