trickery

Etymology

It is formed from English trick + -ery.^[2][3][4][5] The Oxford dictionaries take the base as the noun,^[2][3] Etymonline as the verb.^[5] The noun is from Old French trique (“deceit, cheating”), a dialect form of triche, from trichier (“to cheat, deceive”).^[5][6][7] The French verb is of uncertain origin.^[5] Etymonline reports the view, cited in the OED, that it comes from Vulgar Latin *triccō, from Latin trīcor (“to be evasive, shuffle”), from trīcae (“trifles, difficulties”),^[5] and Ayto calls the Latin source probable.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The practice of deceit or imposture: 1719, according to Etymonline.^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1796,^[8] Dictionary.com 1790–1800,^[4] and the OED's first quotation is of 1801, from a sermon by S. Parr.^[2] Hoad places it in the 18th century,^[6] the Shorter Oxford in the early 19th.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The base word had meant a crafty or mean device since the 15th century, and only in the 16th also a piece of skilful artifice;^[6] trickery keeps to the older, deceitful side.^[2][8] Hoad lists it with tricky, "deceitful" in the 18th century and "difficult to handle" only in the 19th.^[6] It can also describe words rather than deeds: the Shorter Oxford quotes G. S. Fraser's "verbal trickery".^[3]

Timeline

• 1719 – the practice of deceit, imposture.^[5] The OED's first quotation is of 1801.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The use of tricks to deceive or cheat; deception: The gang got the keys by trickery, posing as inspectors.^[9][8][2]
2. An instance of this; tricks used to deceive or harm.^[9][8][3]

Related words

• treachery
• trick
• tricky
• intricate
• extricate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins