different between guile vs stratagem

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English gile, from Anglo-Norman gile, from Old French guile (“deception”), from Frankish *wigila (“ruse”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with wile.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l

Noun

guile (countable and uncountable, plural guiles)

1. (uncountable) Astuteness often marked by a certain sense of cunning or artful deception.
2. Deceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty.

Translations

Verb

guile (third-person singular simple present guiles, present participle guiling, simple past and past participle guiled)

1. To deceive, beguile, bewile.

Derived terms

• beguile
• guileful
• guileless

Related terms

• wile

Translations

Etymology 2

Variant forms.

Noun

guile

1. Obsolete form of gold.
2. Alternative form of gyle

References

Old French

Etymology

From Frankish *wigila, see above

Noun

guile f (oblique plural guiles, nominative singular guile, nominative plural guiles)

1. trickery; deception

Descendants

• English: guile

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (guile)

English

Etymology

From Middle English *stratageme, from Old French stratageme, from Latin strategema, from Ancient Greek ?????????? (strat?g?ma, “the act of a general, a piece of generalship”), from ????????? (strat?gé?, “to be a general, command an army”), from ????????? (strat?gós, “a general, the leader or commander of an army”). See strategy.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?st?æt.?.d??m/

Noun

stratagem (plural stratagems)

1. A tactic or artifice designed to gain the upper hand, especially one involving underhanded dealings or deception.
   • 2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games[1]:

     While Collins does include a love triangle, a coming-of-age story, and other YA-friendly elements in the mix, they serve as a Trojan horse to smuggle readers into a hopeless world where love becomes a stratagem and growing up is a matter of basic survival.

Related terms

• strategic
• strategist
• strategy

Translations

Further reading

• stratagem at OneLook Dictionary Search

Old French

Etymology

From Latin strategema, from Ancient Greek ?????????? (strat?g?ma).

Noun

stratagem m (oblique plural stratagens, nominative singular stratagens, nominative plural stratagem)

1. strategy; stratagem