different between shenanigan vs stratagem

English

Etymology

Of uncertain origin. Earliest known use comes from San Francisco in 1855 at the time of the California Gold Rush. These possibilities have been suggested:

• French ces manigances (“these fraudulent schemes”).
• Spanish chanada, shortening of charranada (“trick, deceit”).
• Irish sionnachuighim (“I play the fox”).
• Rhine Franconian schinägeln (“to work hard”), from the peddler's argot term Schenigelei (“work”).
• East Anglian dialect nannicking (“playing the fool”).
• 18th century German Scheinheiligens (“sham holy men / sham holy actions”, noun plural), scheinheilig (“hypocritical”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???næn???n/,

Noun

shenanigan (countable and uncountable, plural shenanigans)

1. (countable) A deceitful confidence trick, or mischief causing discomfort or annoyance.

2. (uncountable, dated, rare) singular of shenanigans.

Translations

References

• shenanigan on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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