subterfuge

English

WOTD – 29 May 2006

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French subterfuge, from Medieval Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugio (“I flee secretly”), from subter (“under”) and fugio (“I flee”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌbtəɹˌfjuː(d)ʒ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

subterfuge (countable and uncountable, plural subterfuges)

1. (countable) An indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; a blind. Refers especially to war and diplomatics.

   Overt subterfuge in a region nearly caused a minor accident.

   • 2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest, →ISBN, OCLC 460709773:

     How’s the spy hunt going? Uncovered any subterfuge?

   • 2012 March 1, William E. Carter; Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, Sigma Xi, ISSN 0003-0996, OCLC 960769728, archived from the original on 20 February 2012, page 87:

     But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.

2. (uncountable) Deception; misrepresentation of the true nature of an activity.

Translations

indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; blind

• Finnish: harhautus (fi), ansa (fi)
• German: Täuschung (de) f, Trick (de) m
• Greek: τέχνασμα (el) n (téchnasma), υπεκφυγή (el) f (ypekfygí)

• Maori: nuka
• Russian: уло́вка (ru) f (ulóvka), ухищре́ние (ru) n (uxiščrénije)

deception

• Dutch: misleiding (nl) f
• Esperanto: artifiko
• Finnish: harha (fi), harhautuminen

• German: Täuschung (de) f
• Russian: обма́н (ru) m (obmán)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: subterfuge m (1)
• German: Täuschung (de), List (de), Trick (de)
• Greek: υπεκφυγή (el) f (ypekfygí)
• Italian: sotterfugio (it) m (1,2)

• Portuguese: subterfúgio (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਛਲ (cḥal), ਬਹਾਨਾ (bahānā); ਢੁੱਚਰਬਾਜੀ (ḍhucharbājī)
• Spanish: evasiva (es) f, demora (es) f

---

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugio (“I flee secretly”), from subter (“under”) and fugio (“I flee”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syp.tɛʁ.fyʒ/

Noun

subterfuge m (plural subterfuges)

1. subterfuge

   Synonym: stratagème

Further reading

• “subterfuge” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).