Etymology
1. c.1412, "a cheat, a mean ruse," from O.N.Fr.
trique "trick, deceit, treachery, cheating," from
trikier "to deceive, to cheat," variant of O.Fr.
trichier, probably from V.L.
*triccare, from L.
tricari "be evasive, shuffle," from
tricæ "trifles, nonsense, a tangle of difficulties." Meaning "a roguish prank" is recorded from 1590; sense of "the art of doing something" is first attested 1611. The verb is first attested 1595. An earlier sense of "to dress, adorn" (c.1500) is perhaps a different word entirely. Meaning "prostitute's client" is first attested 1915; earlier it was U.S. slang for "a robbery" (1865).
Trickery is first attested 1800;
tricky is 1786 (earlier
tricksy, 1596);
trickster is from 1711.
Trick-or-treat is recorded from 1947.
2. From Middle English trikke, from Old Northern French trique (related to Old French trichier (“to defraud, act dishonestly, conceal, deceive, cheat”); > modern French tricher), itself possibly from Middle High German trechen (“to launch a shot at, play a trick on”), or one of its derivatives (e.g. Middle High German ūftrechen (“to do something to someone, hurt someone”), vertrechen (“to conceal, get over on someone”), zuotrechen (“to obtain falsely or deceitfully, wangle, finagle”), etc.); yet the Old French verb is equally likely to be derived from Vulgar Latin *triccāre, from Late Latin tricāre, from Latin trīcor, trīcārī (“dodge, search for detours; haggle, quibble”).
3. The term has been connected to Middle Dutch treck, trec (“draw, line, desire, game move, cord, stratagem, ruse, trick”), from Middle Dutch trekken, trēken (“to pull, place, put, move”), from Old Dutch *trekken, *trekan (“to move, drag”), from Proto-Germanic *trakjaną, *trekaną (“to drag, scrape, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreg- (“to drag, scrape”). If they are related, trick would be cognate with Low German trekken, Middle High German trecken, trechen, Danish trække, and Old Frisian trekka, Romanian truc and other Romance languages.
4. Compare track, treachery, trig, and trigger. See: Old French '
trichier', French '
tricher', Middle High German '
trechen', Latin '
tricor', Proto-Germanic '
*trakjaną', Low Saxon 'trekken', Middle High German '
trecken', Danish '
trække'.
Verbs referencing "trick"
French
tricher, Old French
trichier.