treachery

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English trecherie, also tricherie,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French trecherie, also tricherie (“deceit, cheating, trickery”) (12th century),^[5][4][3][2] from trechier, trichier (“to cheat, deceive”), with the suffix -erie.^[5][2][6][4] The modern French word is tricherie.^[5][7] The verb, which in its Norman-Picard form also gave English trick,^[5][8][3] is of disputed origin: most Romance scholars refer it to Vulgar Latin *triccō, an alteration of Latin trīcor (“to trifle, play tricks”), from trīcae (“trifles, wiles”), while Diez compared Dutch trek (“pull; trick”).^[5][9][4] Ayto notes that despite the resemblance the word has no etymological connection with traitor or treason,^[8] though Weekley thought its spelling and sense were partly shaped by association with treason.^[10] Middle English also had traitourie for treachery.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Deceitful or dishonest behaviour, betrayal of trust: about 1225, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[5] Barnhart dates tricherie, deceit, treason, in the same text to probably before 1200, and the spelling trecherie to about 1300, in Havelok the Dane;^[3] Etymonline gives about 1200.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Anglo-Norman the word already covered trickery and lies as well as disloyalty, perfidy and treason.^[11] In Middle English it was especially malicious duplicity seen as a vice, sometimes counted among the deadly sins.^[4] An instance of it, a treacherous deed, is recorded from about 1300, in Havelok,^[5][4] and the narrower sense of treason against a ruler or government from before 1400, in the Cursor Mundi.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "perfidy; breach of faith".^[12] From 1870, in James Russell Lowell, it was transferred to ground or conditions with hidden dangers, especially ground that gives way underfoot.^[5][6]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – deceit, betrayal of trust.^[5] Barnhart dates tricherie to probably before 1200.^[3]
• c. 1300 – an act of betrayal or treason; the spelling trecherie.^[5][3]
• before 1400 – treason against a sovereign or government.^[5]
• 1870 – ground or conditions with hidden dangers.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Betrayal of trust or allegiance; treason: The general's treachery cost the city its walls.^[13][2][5]
2. An act of betrayal: a long record of treacheries.^[13][2][5]
3. A readiness or tendency to betray.^[13]
4. Something that hides a danger or cannot be relied on, especially ground that gives way underfoot.^[2][5][6]

Word family

• treacherous

Related words

• trick
• trickery
• treacher
• intricate
• extricate
• treason
• traitor

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins